Grade 9 for Resilience! GCSE Results Day
I’ve said many times that my colleagues and I have a soft spot for this Year 11. The whole year group has been amazing throughout the last two years of disruption caused by covid, and of course were the first GCSE students for three years to sit exams. There are always one or two exceptions, but they deserve a grade 9 for resilience.
Nationally, results are between the levels of 2019 and 2021, and that’s pretty much what has happened here. Overall, we’re closer to the 2021 results (which were higher), and the headline measures are well clear of 2019 which is very encouraging. As you’ll see below, despite the national headlines, Clyst Vale students have done very well in terms of top grades. However, like many schools and Heads, I am not making detailed statements this year, as comparisons with other years or other schools is not helpful or meaningful.
So, let’s celebrate the students. Our top students this year are Fraser Brown and Noah Willingham, each with ten top grades 7 – 9 including seven grade 9s each. Ted Harrison and Ruby Davidson also achieved ten top grades, with 6 and 5 grade 9s respectively. Eight students achieved nine 7-9 grades: Charlie Harrison, Sophie Elliot, Maddie Newman, Livvy Carter, Lucy Trehearne, Emily Sibley, Ben Porter, and Mia Rice. In total, 31 students achieved seven or more grades 7 – 9 among their results: those already mentioned, plus Charlotte Goddard, Holli Morley, Grace Taylor, Ellie Riddle, Olivia Salter, Bracken Snell, Maya Barton, Erin Ryan, Christopher Johnson, Harriet King, Felix Bilton, Daisy Bird, Amelie Boyden, Rhys Burtt-Jones, Harry Crawford, Saffie Moon, Kaiden Harris, Evie Lunn, and Libby Pearson. One in five students in the year group achieved six or more 7-9 grades.
Equally, there are many students who aren’t academically as strong, but have exceeded their expectations and smashed their target grades. And of course there are some students – more than before the pandemic – who have done fantastically well to get any grades at all, managing to hang in there despite serious mental health or other issues. These students rarely get named for obvious reasons of sensitivity and confidentiality, but they have been part of our community, deserve as much praise as anyone, and should know that we are just as proud of them.
The students deserve the credit and, as always, those of them who took their learning seriously, worked hard, and were well-organised achieved well against their own standards. However, I must also praise my colleagues for their hard work, too, and record a big “thank you” to parents, carers and families for your support. It’s an interesting challenge bringing up teenagers at the best of times, but add in a pandemic, remote learning, student absence, teacher absence, extra assessments “just in case”, and all the other uncertainties, so my “thank you” is really well-deserved !
Kevin Bawn
