STUDENTS are celebrating after collecting their GCSE results which were marked under a new grading system today.
With exam stress finally over, youngsters can now look forward to starting sixth form, college or an apprenticeship next month.
For this year’s GCSEs the government introduced a new grading system which will gradually see all A* to G grades replaced with a 9 to 1 system, with 9 the highest mark.
Grades - Students from Manningtree High School
Sally Morris, Manningtree High School headteacher, said: “A fresh cohort of students demonstrated their maths prowess this year as 14 students out of a year group of 146 gained the coveted new grade 9.”
Students at the school achieved 91 per cent A* to C grades and more than three quarters of students who took GCSE religious education gained an A or A*.
Many students achieved top grades across their subjects, including Ben Grant and Daniel Clarke, who got grade 9s in both maths and English alongside seven other A or A* grades.
Exams - Izzy Moor, Ella Fincken and Ella Hull from Manningtree High School
Tiarnie Stammers received seven A*s, two 8s, and a 9 and Ella Fincken got six A*s, one A and two 8s and a 9.
East Bergholt High School was “exceptionally” pleased with their 182 GCSE students’ results.
The percentage of students achieving the basics measure of at least a grade 4 in both GCSE English and maths was 70 per cent.
Headteacher Colin Turner said. “The students were fantastically supported by their parents. Credit must also go to English and maths teaching staff who worked hard to interpret the demands of the new, more challenging GCSEs.”
Students from Harwich and Dovercourt High School were pleased with their results too.
Success - Caitlyn Payne, Owen Youngman, Hannah Godfrey, Emma Rapson, Jake Belton, Kimberley Self, Alice Cannell, Ebony Perkins, Luke Williams, Mai Palmer, Fionn Trenerry at Harwich and Dovercourt High School
Rob Garrett, Harwich and Dovercourt High School headteacher, said: “Students at Harwich and Dovercourt High School are celebrating their individual successes today. Students achieved some suburb results and can be justifiably proud of their achievements.
“Staff worked incredibly hard to prepare students for examinations that no one had sat or seen.”
Owen Youngman, who gained a 9 in maths, said: “I was a little bit worried as the grading system has changed this year but I did not let that stop me.
Caitlyn Payne said: “I managed to get a 9 in maths and I cried a little as I was really shocked.”
Achievers - Students from Colchester Royal Grammar School
A spokesman for Colchester Royal Grammar School said: “GCSE students have produced some excellent results this year and the school is very proud of their achievements.
"They are a delightful and very talented cohort who have worked hard and have had to cope with the uncertainty of a mixture of new assessment schemes in English and maths, alongside old style grades in other subjects.
“Forty-four students achieved 10 subjects or more graded A* or A and 70 per cent of all grades were A*A, or grade 7 to 9.
“We are particularly pleased with the new Maths results, in which 45 students achieved a grade 9 and 75 per cent of results were at grade 8 or 9.
“Sixteen students achieved at least ten subjects graded at A*, with our top performers; Charlie Howlett, James Wrathall, Niall McGenity, Dulan Abeysundara and Matthew Smith all achieving 11 or 12 subjects graded at A*.”
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