GCSE D-DAY for teens

Students trooped to both Kimberley School and Eastwood Comprehensive yesterday (Thursday August 21) to collect envelopes containing their grades which were predicted to be affected by changes to the system with a greater focus on end-of-course exams.

At Eastwood Comprehensive, the pass rate was 48 per cent of pupils gaining five or more grades of A* to C, including English and Maths, which was down one per cent on the levels of 2013.

The overall pass rate of grades A* to G also faced a slight decline of two per cent, down from 98 per cent last year, to 96 per cent this year.

However, the school on Newdigate Street registered 13 per cent of maths results at grade A* to B, which has greatly increased on the nine per cent of last year.

Among those who topped the charts was 16-year-old Joe Wade, who acheieved 11 GCSEs at grade A* and A, including A*s in English, maths, biology, chemistry and business studies.

Music student Rhys Darbyshire was also thrilled when he opened his envelope this morning to find he had acheieved a distinction in BTEC music, along with two A grades in IT and business studies.

He said: “I wasn’t even nervous about today, I was just excited.”

Rhys now plans to stay at Eastwood Comprehensive’s sixth form for two years.

“Then hopefully I’ll go to university to study law,” he added.

Headteacher Stephanie Dyce said she was extremely pleased with the performance of the students this year.

She said;“The hard work that they have put into their studies, alongside the support they have received from staff have delivered good results.

“We’re very much looking forward to many of these students returning to our sixth form to commence A Level courses in September.”

The atmosphere at Kimberley was very much the same, with a buzz in the air as students collected their envelopes.

Kimberley School have not yet been able to release overall figures about their results.

Headteacher Chris Teal said: “It is too soon to quote a final figure for our GSCE results, as we have submitted a number of papers for re-marking and must wait until these are returned.

“But I can say that they are certainly down on last year.”

Despite this, Kimberley School boasted various high acheievers including Alex Cargill and Charlotte Winter, who acheieved 11 GCSEs at A* and A grade.

English teacher Karen Paget at Eastwood Comprehensive was proud of how much her lowest set have improved.

She said: “After working with them for five years, from the early stages on phonics and reading, they have shown a massive improvement.

“We’ve got some Cs in the group which is fabulous.

“A couple of other students got above their targets achieving Ds and Es, which may not seem strong but for the individual it is a really great result.”