THOUSANDS of school pupils in the borough and beyond celebrated the end of their secondary school education as they collected their GCSE results yesterday (August 20).
Many of the schools in Redditch, Alcester and Studley have scooped their best ever results with local students mirroring the national trend of achieving more A* to C grades.
St Augustine’s Catholic High School had the winning formula once again – bagging the title of Best Performing School in Redditch for GCSEs and A-Levels – with 69 per cent of its students achieving five or more A* to C grades.
Twenty four percent of students scooped A* to A grades with 16 star pupils bringing home a massive 135 A* to A grades between them.
Anthony Quinn, principal, said: “‘I am absolutely delighted – year on year, improvements are made on already well established amazing results.”
Staff at RSA Academy Arrow Vale are also celebrating their best GCSE results on record – just one week after the school’s best ever A Level results.
Pupils studying French achieved an outstanding 100 per cent A* to C pass rate and 68 per cent of Arrow Vale students have achieved the threshold required to study A Levels at the school’s Sixth Form.
Top performers include Michelle Smart and Laura Harris who bagged seven A* to A grades.
Principal, Guy Shears, said: “These results are phenomenal with students achieving outstanding progress across virtually all of our subjects.”
Staff at Trinity High School are in high spirits following another successful year with a number of students being awarded A* or A grades in all their subjects whilst English and maths results were both well over 60 per cent.
Star pupils include Robert Gondris who scooped 11 A* to As, May Irwin who bagged 10 A* to As and Heena Mortuja and Miles Matthews who are celebrating 9 A* to As.
Alcester Grammar School staff are celebrating yet another top performance with over two-thirds of all entries graded achieving A* to A and 32 per cent scooping A*s.
Top performing students were Sarah Davies, Rebecca Stirling and Finn Battersby who all achieved 11 A* grades.
Clive Sentance, principal, said: “We are delighted with these results – this year 11 cohort has a very bright future ahead and their excellent GCSEs are a great stepping stone to even better things.”
Headteacher of Alcester Academy, Mr Paul Hyde, has said he is ‘over the moon’ with this year’s crop of results.
The school has made a huge improvement, moving from 58 per cent last year to 78 per cent for students achieving five A* to C grades.
Top performer Alex Steele achieved 11 A* grades, one of which – Further Maths – was an A* with distinction, the highest grade possible at GCSE.
Paul added: “These results are a true reflection of just how hard the students and staff have worked – most Saturday mornings we’ve had upwards of 50 students in attendance receiving additional support from their teachers.”
Staff at Tudor Grange are shouting their success from the rooftops this year after 60 per cent of pupils scooped five or more A* to Cs and a quarter of which, achieved at least two A* or A grades.
Rose Rees, principal, added: “I am extremely proud of the students and staff – examination success equates to life chances for our students who are able to pursue their chosen routes into the sixth form or employment.”
Meanwhile 73 per cent of students at St Benedict’s Catholic High School scooped five A* to Cs, with 27 per cent bagging the coveted A* to A grades.
Nick Gibson, headteacher, said: “We are very pleased with another positive set of GCSE results and our pupils and staff should feel very proud.”
