GCSE: Great Celebrations of Students’ Efforts

Well done to all Clyst Vale Year 11 students who achieved the grades they expected and deserved today.  This applies to students of all abilities; I will return to our top-performing students further on down the page.

Results Day at Clyst Vale
Results Day at Clyst Vale

The following 73 students have all made progress greater than might have been expected from their SATs all those years ago in Year 6. Most of the 73 are the backbone of Clyst Vale: conscientious, wanting to do well, and cooperative. Some of them have not achieved higher than a grade 4, one or two of them have special educational needs or health issues, and one or two have not found school at all easy. However, the point is that for these individuals they have worked hard and done better than expectations. The media on GCSE Results Day tends to forget about the child who has battled dyslexia for 11 years and achieves a few grade 3s and 4s; for that child, this is a remarkable achievement. It doesn’t help that the government has termed grade 4 a “standard pass”, which reinforces a sense of failure for youngsters who have done brilliantly to get a grade 3. All schools emphasise “reaching your potential”, so many congratulations to all of the 73 for doing precisely that !

Elsie Andrews; Ella Bashford; Ellen Blacker; Emily Blatchford; Ellie Brook; Sam Bunn; Hannah Burnett; Jack Carden; Lily Collins; Sam Craig; Rudi Crome; Mia Cross; Sam Darke; Daniel Davies; Toby Derges; Jay Dyer; Owen Elliott; Ryan Evans; Megan Farnhill; Grace Ford; Lottie Gilmour; Edward Gold; Ryan Griffiths; James Hands; Thomas Hannaford; Lauren Harker; Ewan Harlow; Mia Hart; Ebony Hayler; Mason Hiley; Peter Hoskins; Beth Hurren; Cleo Isaac; Ellie Jackson; Joe Jobling; Aaron Jones; Hattie Lavis; Harri Lawrence; Coby Lincoln; Ollie Manning; Jasmine Maycock; Zac Miles; Freya Morrow; Zack Parker; James Perry; Georgia Pittham; Grace Porter; Owen Potter; Harrison Quinn; Holly Rankin; Callan Reed; Jacob Roach; Lizzie Roberts; Leon Robson; Dulcie Sanders; Laura Sibley; Harry Tandy; Sam Terrett; Katy Timmins; Robin Tooze; Beth Towers; Lewis Triggs; Macy Truscott-Jane; Anne Merel Van Der Giezen; Mya Walker; Anna Wallace; Ollie Welch; Abigail White; Bea Williams; Eve Williams; Tabi Wise; India Withers; and Millie Wright.

Ella Bashford checks her results with Beth Carter and Megan Farnhill
Ella Bashford checks her results with Beth Carter and Megan Farnhill
Ebony Hayler
Ebony Hayler

Of course, there are some fantastic individual performances to celebrate.

Jacob Roach has done tremendously well with an amazing NINE grade 9s. There are just 730 students nationally who have a clean sweep of 9s, and we’re thrilled that Jacob is one of the top-performing students in the country !

Jacob Roach
Jacob Roach

Sam Terrett and Lottie Gilmour both achieved six grade 9s among their results; Lizzie Roberts and Megan Farnhill both achieved four grade 9s and five grade 8s; Thomas Hannaford also attained four grade 9s. In total, eighteen students achieved seven or more grades 7-9, equivalent to previous years’ A*-A grades: Ellen Blacker, Hannah Burnett, Jack Carden, Beth Carter, Megan Farnhill, Grace Ford, Lottie Gilmour, Thomas Hannaford, Beth Hurren, Zac Miles, Callan Reed, Jacob Roach, Lizzie Roberts, Lucy Roberts, Tom Rush, Sam Terrett, Anna Wallace and Bea Williams. Grade 9s were achieved in fourteen different subjects, which clearly shows that hard-working able students will do well right across the board at Clyst Vale.

Lizzie Roberts (left) celebrates with her sister
Lizzie Roberts (left) celebrates with her sister
Sam Terrett, Thomas Hannaford and Jacob Roach: 19 grade 9s between them !
Sam Terrett, Thomas Hannaford and Jacob Roach: 19 grade 9s between them !

Our students’ results compare favourably with national results. Both nationally and here, 4% of grades were grade 9; 20.5% of grades nationally were 7-9, 21% here; 73% of Clyst Vale grades were grades 4-9 compared to 66.9 nationally. English results are very pleasing with fifteen grade 9s, and 83.3% of grades being at grade 4 or higher. Biology, Chemistry and Physics were very good, with over 80% of grades being “strong passes” (grade 5) or better. Food Technology results remain high, at 70% grade 5 or more; and History has improved notably to 61% grade 5 and 84% grade 4 or more.

It has been a particularly challenging year or two for students and my colleagues. The new syllabuses are more content-heavy, and there is much more hanging on the exams themselves. The new grading system has made it harder to achieve the very top grades, and has unhelpfully reintroduced the idea of pass/fail. Against this background, there is much to celebrate. Very well done to all concerned.