GCSE pupils make the grade despite covid lockdown

Pupils at Gillotts School in Henley produced its best results ever, with 87 per cent achieving five or more passes at grade 4 or above, including maths and English, up from 85 per cent last year.

Forty-six per cent of pupils achieved five or more passes at grade 7 or above, up from 31 per cent last year.

In English and maths, 43 per cent of students achieved a grade 7 or better.

Ewan Aiken, 16, from Henley, was one of two pupils to achieve a sweep of 10 9s in all subjects.

He is now deciding whether he will study A-levels at Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School, or at Reading School, where he thinks he will study maths, further maths, history and economics.

He said: “That’s probably my confirmed choices for now but they could change because I’m interested in quite a lot of subjects.

“When I saw my paper, I was very excited. I would say I was expecting it after the exams maybe but then in the roll up to today the nerves were kicking in, so I probably dropped my predictions down to a couple of 7s and couple of 8s.”

Violet Dix, 16, who also lives in Henley, achieved eight 9s and two 8s. She said she was “shocked” to find out how well she had done.

She will now study A-level history, psychology and politics at Robert Piggott School.

She said: “I was really happy with my results. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting, I was really shocked.

“I’m having a party later which will be fun and now I’m going out to lunch with my family.”

Violet’s mother, Sophie, said: “We’re really proud of her, none of us could quite believe it, she was so emotional.”

Sophie Floyd, 16, got a 9 in history, 7 in maths, 8 in religious studies, 8 in French, 8 in English language, 8 in English literature and a 7 in drama, biology, chemistry and physics.

She will now study A-level history, English literature and politics and Robert Piggott school.

She said: “It’s such a relief. I got my envelope, and I took my mum to a quiet spot and I opened it and immediately, before I even looked at my results, I started crying.

“I’m so proud of myself to be honest, I think I really did quite well considering how stressed I was during GCSEs.”

Liz Pita, 16, achieved a 6/7 in combined science, a 5 in maths, a 6 in religious studies, 6 in art and design, a 9 in Spanish, a 7 in English language, and an 8 in English literature. She said she was particularly proud of her English grades, having only learned the language when she moved to Henley from Venezuela four years ago.

She will now study psychology, philosophy and biology at college, and hopes to become a neurologist or physiotherapist in the future.

She said: “I came here without knowing even a word of English, I just knew how to say hi, and I was able to pass English language and English literature with high grades.

“I’m really happy that I passed because I really want to make my mum proud. I want to impress her with my results when she finishes work.”

Josephanna Moniz, 16, achieved all 5s, as well as a 5/6 in science, a 4 in maths, and a 5 and 6 in English language and English literature.

Also from Venezuela, Josephanna started at Gillott’s in year 7 and said she was proud of her results, particularly in maths and English.

She will now study animal management at Berkshire Agricultural College and plans to study zoology at university in the future.

She said: “I was really, really bad in maths but I did practise so many papers at home and school and a 4 is basically a pass so that means I did it.

“When I came to England, I didn’t know any English and it was really hard for me. Now leaving school and having these grades is like I did it after the long journey, and I got the grades I wanted.”

Headteacher Catharine Darnton said: “This cohort has done absolutely fantastically. It looks to us like they’re our best results ever and we’re absolutely delighted.

“It’s fantastic today to see them so happy because their hard work is paying off.

“They did have a difficult time because they are the first Covid cohort who didn’t take their SATs back in 2020.

“They came into school having lost that time in primary school and then we had another lockdown when they were in year 7 and school didn’t get back to normal for a couple of years, so they have had all of that to contend with.

“I think they have worked so hard and exceeded what we might have expected for them.

“It’s all just credit to them and it shows that if you work and work effectively you really can do better than you ever could have hoped.”

At Maiden Erlegh Chiltern Edge in Sonning Common, 70 per cent of students achieved five or more passes at grade 4 or above, up significantly from 43 per cent last year.

The proportion of students who achieved five or more passes at grade 7 or above was 18 per cent.

At The Piggott School in Wargrave 90 per cent of students were awarded at least five GCSE results at grade four and above, in 2024 this was 80 per cent.

Forty three per cent of students were awarded the highest attainment threshold of 7 or above.

Among the top performing students was Jacob White, 16, from Twyford, who received seven 9s and two 8s.

“I am really happy,” He said. “I was hoping for high grades, but it’s gone really well, especially in science which was one of my weaker ones, and I managed to get two 9s.

“The revision was tough, for a few months it was a lot of hard work. But then when it came to the exams I wasn’t as scared as I thought I might be because I had prepared.”

Next year Jacob plans to stay at the school to study for A levels in French, media studies and philosophy, religion and ethics.

Bernadette Chan, 16, received all 9s, apart from an 8 in English Language. She was also awarded a distinction star in media studies.

She said: “I’m feeling great, I am really happy because I wanted 9s.”

To revise, Bernadette did a lot of past papers. She said: “I marked them myself and improved from seeing what I did wrong.”

She plans to stay on at Piggott for sixth form, where she has chosen study for A levels in maths, further maths, computing and physics. Bernadette said: “I find problems quite interesting, and I am quite a naturally curious person. I like puzzles, so why not?”

Footballer Jessica Rawlings, 16, got three 9s, four 8s, and three 7s alongside a distinction in dance.

Jessica, who lives in Twyford, said she had to balance her exams with playing for Southampton Women’s U21 side, as well as a training camp with the Wales U19 side. Next year she plans to move to Southampton where she will play at the club alongside studying for A levels in biology, geography and Spanish.

Jessica, who is a former Wargrave Girls FC player, said: “I got higher grades than I was expecting. I missed quite a few weeks of school for football, so I was expecting at least one to not go well.”Fellow pupil Oliver Cragg, 16, from Charvil got a mixture of grades 7 and 8 and a 6 in English Literature.

“I am pretty happy, you can’t not be,” He said. “The exams were a nicer period than I thought it would be. They weren’t too stressful.”

Daniel Gardiner, 16, from Charvil, was awarded three 4s, two 5s, three 6s and a pass in creative media.

He said: “I found the exams relatively easy, but I think the grade boundaries were quite high this year. Overall, it went pretty well. I was quite nervous when I opened them because I had seen lots of videos on TikTok of people opening theirs, and they get all 3s.”

Next year, Daniel plans to attend Henley College to study for A levels in business, biology, and sports science.

Isaac Dawson who lives in Wargrave, said he was very happy to have passed all of his exams apart from English literature.

“I only failed one, which I am happy about, and I don’t have to resit it,” he said. “It’s kind of exactly what I was expecting.”

Isaac said he was unable to get to sleep until 4am the night before receiving his results due to nerves.

Next year he plans to study engineering at the Henley College, a subject he said he had a longstanding interest in.

Charlotte Pizzey, 16, from Charvil received six 6s, two 8s, one 7 and one 5. She was going to study for A levels in philosophy, religion and ethics, media studies and art.

She said “I want to do philosophy because I did RE at GCSE, I loved it so much and I still find it really interesting now. I have always loved art since I was little and media I find interesting and I like English as well.”

Dylan Lacey from Twyford was awarded two 5s, three 4s, one 7, two 8s and one 9. He plans to study for an engineering T-level at the Henley College.

He said: “I was surprised at getting a 9 and a 8 in science and pleased that I got a 5 and a 4 in the English exams.

“I was a bit nervous this morning, but when I had properly looked at all my results, I was very happy.”

Highdown School in Emmer Green said almost 71 per cent of pupils achieved five or more passes at GCSE grade 4 and above, Twenty three per achieved five or more passes at grade 7 or above.

Holly Curtayne, 16, from Caversham, received 11 GCSEs, all at grade 9.

She said: “I’m really shocked but I’m happy. I have been revising pretty consistently for a while and have put in the work for a long time. I just tried to revise whenever I could but mostly after school from about 4pm until 7pm. I struggled the most with English literature because I’m not very good with essay subjects.” She is staying at the school to study maths, further maths, chemistry and history A-levels.

Ben Attwood-Brown, 16, from Caversham, received 10 GCSEs at grades 8 to 5. He is studying maths, geography and economics A-levels at the same school.

He said: “I am happy with most of them but a couple of them I wish were better, like economics, which I got a 6 in, because it’s my A-level subject.

“For geography, I think I did about three hours of revision, but I watched a lot of videos for other subjects.

“I found Chinese the hardest exam, but I got a 6 in it, which I am happy with it. I thought it would look good on my CV and I’m pretty decent at it.”

He wants to go to university to study economics.

Lucy Foulkes, 16, from Reading, achieved 10 passes at grades 8 to 4.

She is staying at the school to study biology, chemistry and psychology A-levels and will be celebrating with friends at Reading Festival. She said: “My favourite was art, and I enjoyed English too, but it was a subject which I thought I did well in, but the marks didn’t come back in the same way.”

Her mum, Caroline, the chair of governors at the school who also teaches chemistry at Reading University, said: “I am ridiculously proud of all the hard work she has done and it’s a fabulous achievement. It’s so nice seeing her and all her friends with smiley faces.”

Headteacher Laura Matthews expressed her pride in the students. She said: “I’d like to congratulate Highdown Year 11 students for all they have achieved and thank staff and families for their dedication and support.

“You are a charismatic, driven and tenacious group of individuals and I can’t wait to welcome many of you back into the Sixth Form. I wish those individuals moving elsewhere the best of luck in your future endeavours.”

At Langtree School in Woodcote, 84 per cent of pupils achieved five or more passes at grade 4 and above, including maths and English, compared to 80 per cent last year.

The proportion of students who received a grade 7 or better was 38 per cent. A three per cent increase from last year.

The overall pass rate was 87 per cent. Headteacher Simon Bamford, said: “We are delighted our students have exceeded even our high expectations of them. This is a great achievement for our young people, and the staff who worked so hard to support them.

“Some of our greatest successes are students who will not top any attainment lists but battled incredibly hard to achieve very good outcomes and a number overcame some significant personal challenges to achieve results that they should be very proud of."