Students across Hackney have found out their exam grades today.
This is the first year a new numerical grading system has been used. Traditional A*-G grades have been scrapped and replaced with a 9-1 system, with 9 the highest grade.
Last year, one in five GCSE entries scored at least an A , or a 7 under the new system, while two thirds scored the equivalent of a C.
Achieving the grades they need, allow students to move on to A Level or BTEC courses at sixth form or college, join an apprenticeship or traineeship scheme, or take part in NVQs.
Only 732 pupils in the country to get a clean sweep of 9s.
OUR LADY’S HIGH SCHOOL
Our Lady’s High School schoolgirl Faith Babatunde got three 9s, three 8s, two 7s and an A in Mandarin in her GCSEs despite missing about one fifth of her Year 11 education due to medical condition. Faith is now planning on doing chemistry, biology, physics and psychology A-levels and wants to work in medicine.
Marie-Eunice Kouassi came to England from the Ivory Coast in Year 5, and learnt the entire English language in a year. Marie now has three 9s, three 8s, two 7s and an A in Mandarin.
Emma Owens, contracted chicken pox three days before the exam and had to sit in a separate room as she was contagious. She has two 9s, four 8s, two 7s and a 6. She is staying on at Our Lady’s mixed sixth form.
Joy Adeogun who hopes to going to Cambridge to study has two A*s, an A, three 9s, three 8s and a 7. Joy is currently helping out at Hackney Empire.
Beauty Odeyemi was pleased with her results, particularly the A in Mandarin. She is going on to study computing, geography and business.
URSWICK SCHOOL
There were screams of excitement as Year 11 collected their GCSE results at The Urswick School, Paragon Road today. 64% of students achieved 5 or more grades 9 – 4.
Amongst the highest performing students were Anh Vu, 16, who achieved 9s in Combined Science, Maths and History. Grade 9s are awarded to students in the top 3% of the country. Anh who was surprised by her outstanding grades said, “I am so happy with my results, thank you so much to all my teachers.” Anh plans to take A Levels in History and English and is still deciding which other subjects to study.
Ilke Delice , 16, achieved 8 GCSEs, including 9s in Combined Science, English Language, Maths and Geography. She said: “I’m relieved that my hard work has paid off and I’m so thankful for to the teachers here at The Urswick that have helped me achieve my wonderful results.”
Mikolaj Cios, 16, who will be staying on at The Urswick School Sixth Form Academy achieved 9s in Combined Science. He said “Thank you to the teachers for taking the time with me during and after school without them I couldn’t have done it, I am so happy”
Richard Brown, Headteacher said: ‘These are completely new GCSEs, with much more difficult content and the new 9-1 grading system. Our students worked hard and showed a great deal of resilience when taking anything up to 30 hours of different exam papers. I am delighted with their successes and also congratulate our staff on the skilled way they have delivered the new exam syllabuses.”
Richard Brown criticised the government’s decision to allow students at independent schools to take iGCSE, a qualification that is not open to state school children.
He said: “I have no difficulty with the exam system becoming more demanding as long as we remember that comparisons with past results are pretty much invalid. However, it seems to me entirely wrong that 16 year olds who go to Independent schools are often being allowed to avoid the new, more difficult, exams, by taking something called the iGCSE, a qualification that is not open to state school children. It is for the Government to explain why they have allowed this inequality and unfairness to take place.
I am proud of all our students, some of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and have special educational needs. What I want for our children is a level playing field. That is why everyone at Urswick works so hard on their behalf.”
Chloe Chilvers, former Head Girl cried tears of joy when receiving her Maths result. “I am so happy I passed, I just can’t believe it”
CLAPTON GIRLS’ ACADEMY
Clapton Girls’ Academy are celebrating amazing GCSE results.
78% of students achieved grade 4 or above in English and Maths, putting CGA comfortably in the top 10% of schools nationally for progress. Students at the academy significantly outperformed their peers nationally with 90% of students achieving grade 4 or above in English Language (28% above the national average) and 80% of students achieving grade 4 or above in Maths (14% above the national average). An astonishing 35% of all grades were 9-7 or equivalent.
The new GCSE grade 9 is only awarded to the top 3% of students nationally and is used to recognise ‘exceptional performance’. Despite widespread concern that students achieving top grades would fall dramatically, 7% of all grades in English and maths at CGA were a grade 9 (exceeding the national average by 4%). Overall students at Clapton Girls’ Academy amassed an astounding batch of 98 grade 9s. Across the subjects:
- an incredible 16 subjects achieved ‘red hot ALPS’ status, meaning they are in the top 25% nationally.
- 18 subjects achieved 9-4/A*-C, well above the national girls’ average
- 14 subjects did better than the national girls’ average in 9-7/A*-A
Miwa Tatsuhara, the academy’s highest performer, achieved 5 grade 9s and 5 grade 8s, as well as an A*. She said, “In all my years at Clapton this is my proudest moment – getting these grades! Clapton’s supportive and comfortable environment gave me the push to work hard and be so successful.”
Tanya Ahmed also gained 6 grade 9s and 4 grade 8s. She said, “Clapton really helped me progress as I was so shocked to see a grade 9 in French when I was predicted a 6. I’m so proud of that! I can’t wait to join the sixth form.”
Another very happy student was Amber Charlton with 3 grade 9s and 7 grade 8s. She said, “I wasn’t expecting these results. I was hoping they would be good but these have definitely surpassed my expectations! I love being a Clapton girl – there’s such a community spirit here.”
Head of Year 11, Daniel Robinson, said “I’m so proud of all the students and their sustained focus over the GCSE period.”
Headteacher, Anna Feltham, said “I am delighted with today’s GCSE results. This year’s incredible progress is a result of the girls’ exceptional work ethic and the unfailing commitment of our amazing staff. Our students and staff have shown great resilience when rising to the challenges of the new more rigorous GCSE examinations. I look forward to seeing more outstanding results from this cohort as they move into our thriving sixth form!”.
FOREST SCHOOL
Forest School pupils achieve best GCSE results ever
New challenging exams with pupils awarded a mixture of number and letter grades could have led to some confusion, but what is absolutely clear is that pupils at Forest School in Snaresbrook, London, have this week posted the School’s best ever set of GCSE results.
The old grades now have numerical equivalents, but what didn’t change was A* or 8 being the most common grade for both boys and girls for the seventh year in a row, and 77% of all the grades awarded being A**/A*/A or 9/8/7 (the top three grade levels).
There were more than 150 pupils in the Forest Y11 cohort, each sitting a minimum of nine GCSE exams, resulting in 1500 grades awarded overall. 54% of which were at the two top two grade levels (the new exclusive 9/A** or the previously top 8/A*). As ever, there was real strength in the core subjects with 91% of pupils achieving 9/A** or 8/A* in English and 79% awarded one of the two same highest grades in Mathematics.
All of Forest’s Year 11 pupils were also entered for the Higher Project Qualification (HPQ) a high-level research project favoured by universities, and an impressive 96% of pupils attained A*-B grades in their HPQ with 86% achieving A*/A.
On this year’s GCSE level results, the Warden (Headteacher) of Forest School, Marcus Cliff Hodges, said:
“Our pupils have embraced the challenge of new GCSE exams with characteristic energy, posting Forest’s best ever GCSE results. This is a tremendous cohort of sparky pupils who have worked hard and been ambitious for themselves. These stunning results are thoroughly deserved. I am very proud of them”
Head of Middle School Justine Venditti:
“I am absolutely delighted for the pupils that their hard work and commitment to their learning has been rewarded with such outstanding results. As a year group, not only have they proved themselves to be academically strong, they have flourished into individuals who have been a pleasure to teach, and who now move on to the Forest Sixth Form with confidence.”
Deputy Head Academic Tahmer Mahmoud:
“This year has seen new GCSE grades and new more challenging papers and our Y11s excellent set of results across the whole range of subjects are testament to our pupils’ hard work and commitment – well done to them all.”
STOKE NEWINGTON SCHOOL
Stoke Newington School, has further improved GCSE results this year.
The percentage of students getting strong passes in English and Maths (grade 5) is 52%: 10% higher than last year’s national figure. The equivalent percentage for grade 4 is 8% above last year’s national figure.
On average over 79% of SNS students achieved grades 4 to 9 in the core subjects – up 4% from last year. There were 89 new top level 9 grades across the full range of subjects– with 3 students gaining a 9 in both English and Mathematics.
The school’s creative subjects continue to excel with very strong results among Art, Photography, Media, Music, Drama and Textiles. 29% of our students achieved the English Baccalaureate – well above the 24% national figure from last year. English Baccalaureate subjects performed very strongly with Science, History and Languages showing progress significantly above the national rate.
Headteacher Annie Gammon said: “We are very proud of our year 11 students – every one of them. We know that they are ambitious for their achievements; they worked hard and have been well taught and supported by our teachers. We continue to have excellent results in our creative subjects, as well as students achieving well in the fundamentals of Maths and English. We are really pleased with their success.”
Crispin Truman, Chair of Governors, said that “Well done to all the students at our inclusive, community school are doing so well. We continue to achieve results which improve year on year and are well above national averages. We are particularly proud of the value added for every group of students: almost all our pupils make strong progress.”
