Success for Devon's 16-year-olds

GCSE results day brings smiles and happy tears

Teenagers across Devon have been celebrating - including in the traditional 'jumping for joy' pics as the annual GCSE results day comes round.

Nationally, the government wanted to put downward pressure on examiners to get grades back to pre-pandemic levels.

But 16-year-olds have been taking that in their stride, as they have over the last three blighted years of their education. Thanks to covid, these were the first public exams many have sat.

Nationally too, only 125 pupils achieved eleven top-grade GCSEs - and three of them came from one Devon school.

Exeter School also saw a quarter of all the GCSEs its year-11 students sat being awarded at grade nine - five times the national average.

One student with top marks in all his subject, Toby, said waiting through the summer for results day has been nerve-wracking and he had been most worried about his biology result but said that his eyes were drawn to that result first and he couldn’t be happier. 
 
Exeter School's head Louise Simpson said: “It’s clear from these excellent results that our current Year 11 pupils are hard-working, diligent Exonians that have truly made the most of the excellent teaching, pastoral care and facilities that Exeter School offers. We are deeply proud of each and every pupil, for their hard work, their tenacity and their ability to overcome the challenges that the past few years have thrown at them.

As South Dartmoor Community College, a quarter of students achieved a grade 7 or above in English and a fifth of students achieved this in maths. Half of all students shared more than 300 top grades (7+). Students did particularly well in science, where 95 per cent achieved a grade 4 or above in biology, physics and chemistry, and in languages, where nearly 90 per cent achieved this.

Jen Veal, executive headteacher, said: “We were particularly fond of this cohort, they were a great group of young people who engaged really well with us to get the most out of their education. They aspired to do their best and these excellent results reflect that. They worked really hard to achieve a set of results of which they can be truly proud. We are thrilled for them.

Queen's Elizabeth's School in Crediton achieved its highest-ever pass rate for English and maths, with four in five students getting grade 4 or above in both subjects.

Exeter College has a team on hand to advise on next steps for teenagers who are wondering what to do next. The Future Steps team is at futuresteps@exe-coll.ac.uk or call 01392 400330. 

Ben Harvey, Louis Garnsworthy, Rowan Backhouse and Greg Mildon are happy with their results from Queen Elizabeth School, Crediton