Academy Students Shatter Results Record!

Exam results day always dawns with a tinge of nervous anticipation for students, parents and staff alike. This year was no exception. For me the question was simple. Could we possibly match last year’s fantastic achievement when 80% of our students had achieved 5 A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent?  I knew that our students had worked really hard. I knew they had been well taught. I knew that their parents had given them all the support they could. Even so, they had a hard act to follow: last year our students had smashed the record for our predecessor school and had set the bar very high indeed.

The tension mounted as the results were downloaded and analysed. Then the news broke. This year’s students had not just matched last year’s: they had done better still. In fact they had not just done better; they had done massively better and raised the record to a stunning 93%! I was so proud of them, of their teachers and of everybody who had helped them to scale these new heights.

Exam statistics do matter. The results our students achieve stay with them for the rest of their lives and give them choices they might otherwise be denied. As the day went on, however, and I spoke to student after student and parent after parent, the figures themselves became less important than the pride I could see and hear in those around me.

Rachel Snowden, who attained Grade As in Chemistry, Maths, French, Geography, IT, Physics and RE as well as 5 Grade Bs, said, “It is amazing. I really can’t put it into words. I am so proud of the progress I have made. I came in at low levels from my primary school but the support I have received at The Academy has enabled me to achieve more than anyone thought I could. I am so proud of this school and what I have achieved.”

Among our other highest achievers were Dominic Moore (who gained 5 passes at Grade A* and 6 at Grade A), Abigail Luke, Laura Crosland, Emma Sykes, Samuel Johns, Lauren Bailey, Peter Sutton, Lillie McGuckian, Mitchell Loftus, Jennifer Atkinson, Sophie Littler and Isabel Pearce.  Dominic said it all:  “I was delighted when I saw my results. The Academy has really encouraged me to work hard and ‘make my best better’. I feel the work ethic here has really pushed me to get the best grades I can so that I can move on to A-levels confident of success.”

Richard HedgeHeadteacher