Delight, excitement and relief flooded through the College today as Year 11 students and their families collected their final GCSE results. In a changing educational climate, the students attending Heathfield this year have excelled themselves with 80% achieving the new “pass” of 9-4 in both English & Maths and 57% gaining the “Good Pass” of 9-5. Amidst what seems to be exceptional progress, there are also some fantastic examples of achievement in the face of challenging circumstances for individual students. Indications also show attainment at the very highest levels, including the elusive Grade 9, is strong. There are exceptional outcomes to celebrate with 14% of grades at 9/8 and over 6% gaining Grade 9. A quarter of students gained 5 or more GCSEs at Grade 7 and above.
Headteacher Caroline Barlow said: “Life is not all about examination grades but there is no doubt that getting good results opens doors and provides choices for the future. Today was a really uplifting day at Heathfield. It was fantastic to see the students’ faces as they saw their results and realised that all their hard work has paid off. Most pleasing was that students from across the whole ability range have done well; we are really proud of them.”
A number of students achieved extremely high attainment: Rebecca Hamilton secured 8 Grade 9s and 1 A* along with 2 Grade 8s; Emily Randolph gained 6 Grade 9s and 2 A*s, 3 Grade 8s & 1 A; Gabriella Saville gained 5 Grade 9s, 2 A*s, 3 Grade 8s, 1 A and 1 Distinction*. Additionally, Hannah Haffenden achieved 6 Grade 9s and 3 A*s, 2 Grade 8s and 1 Grade 7; Eleanor Dawson secured 5 Grade 9s and 2 A*, 1 A and 1 Grade 7 and Emily Miller gained 5 Grade 9s and 4 Grade 8s. Many students also achieved grades at the highest levels within their already impressive set of results; Erin Johnson (7 Grade 8s), Hannah McCarthy (1 Grade 9 and 7 Grade 8s), Arabella Cue (5 Grade 8s) Georgina Sharma (1 Grade 9 and 4 Grade 8s), Louis Carter (1 Grade 9 and 4 Grade 8s).
A further range of students achieved 8 or more GCSEs at Grade 7 or higher: Lottie Baird (including a 9 and 2 8s), Megan Bosworth (including 3 9s and 4 8s), Lucie Colborne (including 3 9s and 3 8s), Libby Davis (including 3 8s), Sam Edwards (including 1 9 and 4 8s), Tom Fahy, Laurel Hart (including 2 9s and 5 8s), Ewan Hazeltine (including a 9), India Hedges (including 2 9s and 3 8s), Abigail Irwin (including 5 8s), Eva Jeffery (including 2 9s and 4 8s), Kitty Owers (including 4 8s), Georgia Reed-Davies (including 1 9 and 3 8s), Joe Taylor (including 3 8s), Nathan Wood (including 3 9s and 4 8s).
Many other results represent exceptional achievement and progress for individual students, some of whom have excelled in spite of challenging personal or medical circumstances. Whilst many of these cannot be named, their achievement is none the less significant and both the College and their families will be very proud of their results. The outcomes overall show the college’s ability to add significant value to all pupils’ progress over their five years at Heathfield. This is a result of the powerful combination of the hard work and dedication of students to their studies, the unstinting support of parents and the focused expertise and skill of their teachers.
Paying tribute to the community effort that has led to this success Head of Year, Ciaran Treloar said: “Our students richly deserve these fantastic outcomes. We have set high expectations throughout their time with us and they have risen to them brilliantly. I am incredibly proud of the dedication, hard work and resilience students have shown and that is reflected in their results today. To be this successful requires a team effort. The students, staff and governors at Heathfield along with the crucial partnerships with parents have all worked positively together to bring out the best in each young person. Congratulations to all students today and we wish them good luck in their future endeavours.”
Context:
This academic year has been one of significant change for schools with fundamental changes being made to the way GCSEs are assessed and graded. The new grades are being phased in and more challenging GCSE examinations have been introduced in most GCSE subjects. The grading for these subjects has changed, moving from an A*-G scale to a 9-1 scale. Department for Education descriptions have termed Grade 4 as a Standard Pass and Grade 5 a strong pass.
For official information and guidance on the new GCSEs see: https://ofqual.blog.gov.uk/2018/03/02/gcse-9-to-1-grades-a-brief-guide-for-parents/