GCSE results day: Shropshire lockdown learners rewarded by exam success

And the relief on their faces and those of their teachers was evident when they opened their results having sat exams for the first time in three years.

Across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and beyond, schools said they were delighted with the results, which, while maybe not hitting the heights of many teacher-assessed grades of the past two years, were generally better than in 2019.

At Shrewsbury Academy, students both congratulated and supported each other depending on results.

Head teacher Julie Johnson said: "We are on an exciting journey for the development of our school, and our Year 11 community have been a credit to the school and the town of Shrewsbury. Their outcomes show that even during a difficult year, their determination and resilience really pays off."

Sisters Poppy and Lily Upton were both opening results, Lilly, 16, her strong set of GCSE results and younger sister, Poppy her year 10 English Literature results taken a year early. Lily said she was really pleased and looking forward to a special breakfast celebrations with the family.

Hannah Barber's results, including two 9s and two 8s, will see her go on to to biology, chemistry and photography at A-level.

Several students from Shrewsbury Academy have opted to go on to study one of a number of courses at Shrewsbury Town FCs own college, where they can combine their love of sport with learning.

They include Kasper Szczepanek who arrived in Britain from Poland for years ago.

"The only English I knew was 'Hello, how are you', now I have passed my exams sitting them in the English language," he said.

Friends Lilly Whiteman and Erin Swancott said the last two years had been incredibly difficult. Both are now going to study at Shrewsbury Sixth Form.

Josh Robinson, George Starrs, Luis Titley and Leo Gough were delighted with their English results praising teacher Miss Grant.

"We all bought into the process," Josh said.

In Telford, The Learning Community Trust said GCSE results at all three of its Telford secondary schools, have broken several records.

The trust runs three of the largest secondary schools in the borough; Hadley Learning Community, Ercall Wood, and Charlton.

Ercall Wood achieved its best ever results as part of across-the-board improvements in attainment rates under the school’s new leadership team.

Hadley Learning Community maintained the levels of its record-breaking results in the year before the Covid lockdown, headlined by another particularly strong performance in English.

And Charlton School continued its improvements of 2019 by recording its highest ever percentage of pupils achieving 9-4 grades, and more students achieving high English grades than ever before.

The trust also runs Queensway School in Telford, which caters for children and young people on the autistic spectrum, and those with social, emotional and mental health difficulties. It also recorded its best ever results, with many students achieving GCSE grades of 4 or above in English, maths and science.

Dr Gill Eatough, chief executive of the trust, said: “We’re absolutely delighted with these results, which reflect the hard work of our students during what has clearly been a challenging couple of years."

She added: “We are particularly pleased to see the significant improvements at Ercall Wood under new head Richard Gummery and his team, especially English which was a key focus for us.

Telford College's overall GCSE pass rate of more than 98 per cent was comfortably ahead of the national average. It also recorded its best-ever set of BTEC level two results, with a 97 per cent of pass rate across the 500 students assessed this summer. There were significant improvements to Maths and English results.

Principal and chief executive Graham Guest said: “Maths and English form a key part of the Government’s levelling up programme, and opens up pathways to the maximum number of courses and job opportunities."

At the Marches School in Oswestry four students had a clean sweep of A* and A grades. Headteacher Alison Pearson said: “Our Year 11 students really are a credit to our school and our community. We have worked as a team over three years of disruption to learning and so this is a great outcome and a chance for celebration. This is a testament to the year group, our hard working dedicated staff and the support from parents."

Sir John Talbot School in Whitchurch saw students celebrate with their teachers as they were awarded "outstanding and well-deserved" GCSE results.

And at the Grove School in Market Drayton, headteacher Sonia Taylor said: "Despite some significant challenges over the past couple of years, our students have managed to achieve The Grove School’s best ever GCSE results which are a testament to their hard work and efforts throughout their studies."

English and Maths reaped rewards at the Bishops Castle Community College, with 78 per cent of students achieving a Grade 4 or above. Biology, Physics, French and Spanish produced particularly exceptional results, with more than 50 per cent of those studying these subjects achieving a Grade 7 or above.

Sophy Bellis, headteacher at the Lakelands Academy, Ellesmere, said: "Our "Class of 2022’ showed great resilience during a period of significant disruption. Despite the challenges, they remained focused on achieving their best and supported each throughout their time here. The results are well deserved and a reflection of the spirit of this delightful group of young people."

Haberdashers’ Adams at Newport, celebrated its best ever set of GCSE exam results this year, with over half of the results falling into the highest bracket - grades 9 and 8.

Headmaster Gary Hickey who said it was wonderful to be able to congratulate the students in person said: “A total of 120 pupils at Haberdashers’ Adams sat their GCSEs this year and have achieved an outstanding set of results.

He also praised all of the staff who he said had worked tremendously hard to support pupils.

"We took a very thorough and honest approach to the centre-assessed grades of 2020 and teacher assessed grades of 2021, all of which was supported by rigorous assessments and monitoring," he said.

"It is through the diligence of our teachers that we have continued to see a steady rise in exams results from pre-Covid days to now.

Students at William Brookes were praised for demonstrating huge resilience across the subjects that they studied. Sixth Form Leader Claire Mincher said that ‘We are looking forwards to welcoming many of our students and those from other centres into our sixth form this September. "

The Woodlands School and outreach, part of the Marches Academy has had students passing exams to help them go onto college or to start apprenticeships such as motor mechanics.

Headteacher Julia Taylor added, “This year at Woodlands a key focus has been to ensure that our pupils leave school with skills that will support them on their life’s journey and enable them to contribute to their communities and to society as a whole."

Vicki Dean, principal at Tenbury High Ormiston Academy, paid tribute to the senior student leaders, gaining exceptional results as well as contributing much to academy life as prefects or student council members.

“The class of 2022 has made it through two incredibly challenging years whilst preparing for GCSEs," she said.

"The resilience, hard work and dedication shown has been remarkable."

In Powys it was the first GCSE and BTEC exams since Llanfyllin became an all-age school, with almost a third of students gaining five or more A*, As or equivalent. Many will be returning to the school's sixth form in September.

Wrekin College pupils are celebrating success with nearly half of students achieved top marks with 9-7 grades the equivalent to A*-A,an improvement of 17 per cent compared with 2019 when formal GCSE exams were last sat.

Headmaster Tim Firth said: “With the return to traditional exams, our students have performed very well indeed academically.

“A need to get back to 'proper' exams has been so important. This year the Government policy of reining in grade inflation in order to bring results gradually back to a pre-pandemic level has been necessary if we are to trust them as an accurate measure of ability.

Students from Moreton Hall School in Shropshire are celebrating a record-breaking set of results with the highest percentage of Grade 9 in externally set and marked examinations in recent history. Likewise, the percentage of Grades 8 and 9 is the highest achieved in examinations since 2017 while half those taking separate sciences had grades 8 and 9.

Adcote School students were celebrating with 45 per cent of all GCSE results achieving the top grades 9-7 (A*/A equivalent) – far exceeding the national average.

Compared to results from 2019, the class of 2022 increased the number of Adcote’s top grades by 23 per cent.

Ellesmere College students had a 90 per cent pass rate with 30 per cent of grades in the top 9-7 range.

Headmaster Brendan Wignall said: “With two years of disruption to their education their achievements are even more impressive. Our swift move to teaching online as soon as the country went into lockdown, delivering our full timetable using Microsoft Teams for remote learning, ensured that little time was lost. But nevertheless, being online rather than in school has been a difficult experience to adjust to and it is a testament to our pupils determination and resilience that they have risen to the challenge, their results today have been hard earned.

At Concord College, near Shrewsbury, more than half of GCSE grades were the highest possible, grade 9, and almost three quarters were at grade 8 or higher.

Among the 90 students over a third were awarded at least 8 grade 9s and 18 students achieved 9 or more grade 9s.

Principal Dr Michael Truss: “I am delighted for our Form 5. GCSEs and IGCSEs serve two purposes: they are a validation of achievement in a wide range of subjects and disciplines and also the passport to further, deeper study at A Level.

“Our students have worked extremely hard over these two-year courses, the entirety of which have been dominated by the pandemic and the difficulties that this has brought to travel and study.