GCSE celebrations

Pupils climbed the steps into St Richard’s Catholic College with trepidation but it was not long before they came out smiling - the school reflected the national trend towards record passes, and 83 per cent achieve five A*-C grades including maths and English and 91 percent achieve 5 A*-C in all subjects.

Principal Doreen Cronin said: “Well done to the pupils on achieving such fantastic results and to the pupils’ parents, carers, and staff who gave them the support, encouragement and self-belief to achieve their potential.

“Their achievements are the foundation of much greater success in the future.”

Meanwhile results at Bexhill High School were around the same as last year, with 48 per cent securing five grade A to Cs including English and Maths.

That is 10 per cent higher than two years ago. Bexhill High scored just below 50 per cent last year, although Executive Principal Mike Conn hopes appeals will bring the percentage back up.

He said: “Five successful appeals will mean a 50 per cent total (up from 48) which is satisfactory in what was a time of huge change for our students when the new school opened in November.

‘There is no doubt that our Year 11 students had a difficult time with transferring from our old school to our new one, and our new approach to teaching.

‘The changes were always going to happen to affect one Year 11 group, but the move isn’t an excuse. The government’s priority now is to highlight the number of students securing five grade A to Cs, including English and maths. We had a number of students who got five A to Cs but they only got English, or they only got maths, not both.

“We needed to have more students with A to C in English and maths, not one or the other. That is the indicator schools are largely judged by nowadays, and we have to get more people through A to C at both of those key subjects.”