GCSEs: Joy and tears of relief at The Weald

Headteacher Peter Woodman said: “There was huge excitement, joy and some tears of relief as students opened envelopes to receive their GCSE results.

“Students have produced another bumper set of grades which exceed our best previous best performance as a school with 74 per cent of students achieving five or more A*-C grades or better, including English and maths.

“77% of students achieved both English and maths GCSEs at a C or above.

“We are thrilled to see that all our students’ hard work has paid off.

“In recent years pass marks for the highest grades have slowly been increasing so it is gratifying to see that our headline figures have been sustained and improved on within this national context.”

With over 250 students in the year group over half of all grades were at A*-B and a fifth of students achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* or A.

Over 80 per cent of all students achieved a grade A or A* in at least one subject.

Some 11 per cent of all grades were at A*, nearly twice the national average while 80 per cent of all entries were at grade C or above, some 11 per cent above the national average.

There were some stunning individual performances with 31 students – or 12 per cent of the year group – achieving eight or more GCSEs at A or A* grades.

Top performers included Megan Barnett with 12 A*s and two A grades, Alfie Burchfield with 10 A*s and four A grades, Lea Pritchard with 9 A*s and four A grades, Amy Ratner, Ashley Jefford, Natasha Calder Smith, Katie Chapman and Clara Clitheroe all with at least 13 A*s or A grades.

Mr Woodman added: “We were thrilled to see so many students getting their targets grades.

“These days are not just about those students getting the highest grades but about all students achieving the grades they need for their next step in education.

“The culture that we have developed here at The Weald means that students are prepared to work hard and be seen to work hard by their peers.

“It is fantastic to see the reaction from students when they see that all this hard work has paid off.”

Mr Woodman said he and his staff were particularly delighted at students’ performance on the new Progress 8 scale, which measures children’s progress from the end of primary school to the end of Year 11.

The baseline requirement for Progress 8 is a score of -0.5.

Anything from zero and higher shows a school has performed particularly well. Anything below the baseline would trigger an Ofsted inspection.

The Weald’s score of +0.7 tells the government children have made progress well in excess of national expectations during their time at the school.

More about Progress 8.

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