Pictures: Students celebrate GCSE results

Pupils receiving their results yesterday will have spent a lot of time learning and revising from home through online teaching due to the pandemic.

This year marked the first time since 2019 that exams have taken place.

Adam Shelley, headteacher at the Sir John Colfox Academy said: “We are delighted with the GCSE results. Students have done brilliantly over this difficult time, overcoming disruption and have achieved great results.

“We look forward to welcoming most of them back to our Sixth Form, where I have no doubt they will do extremely well."

He highlighted some students who had done 'exceptionally well' including Bailey Prowse who achieved 6 grade 9s, 3 grade 8s and a grade 7; Charlie Symes who achieved 4 grade 9s, 4 grade 8s and a grade 7; Isla Hutching who achieved 2 grade 9s, 3 grade 8s and 4 grade 7s; Leah Andrews who achieved 2 grade 9s, 1 grade 8 and 6 grade 7s.

Mr Shelley added: “Year 11 have had to cope with so much change this year. They have been a credit to the school with the way they have risen to this challenge. I would also like to thank all school staff, who have worked hard to support our students in preparation for their exams.

“I hope that students will now look forward to the next stage of their education and to getting back to learning new subjects in school, we are certainly looking forward to welcoming everyone back in September.”

The long, hot summer cooked up another impressive set of results at Beaminster School as students celebrated their GCSE achievements.

With the return to formal examinations this year, and all the swirling uncertainty, there was great relief and much euphoria that the long wait was over, envelopes could be ripped open and students were finally able to celebrate their well-deserved successes.

Bryony Smith, Head of Year 11, was delighted: 'It has been a real privilege to see the students grow over the past five years and earn themselves such great opportunities for the future. I am incredibly proud of the positive and focused approach that they brought to their studies, particularly over the past torrid years; their fortitude and determination is richly rewarded by these wonderful outcomes.’

Alongside many outstanding individual performances, the school said the following students deserve particular congratulations for gaining the equivalent of eight or more A-grades (9-7): Eliza Dennison, Kiana Earlam, India Murless, Ellie Fooks, Hannah Coombs, Theo Backhouse, Poppy Dulwich, Scout Stone, Ruby Rix, Luke Bowstead, Naomi Gardner, Finlay Tarr and Mally Titcombe-James.

Keith Hales, Headteacher, said "This has been a wonderful year group who are very worthy recipients of some stunning results in the face of such adversity. The performances are also a great credit to the staff team for their endless hard work and skill in carefully preparing the students, alongside the support and encouragement from parents and carers."

The Woodroffe School said it was "delighted with the strong set of examination results achieved this year which represent an improvement on the results achieved in 2019, pre-pandemic".

Dan Watts, headteacher, said: "Congratulations to our fabulous students, your achievements are well deserved. We are immensely proud of our students, and we wish them the very best

for the future, whether staying on into our Sixth Form or following pastures new.

"These have been unprecedented times and together we succeed. This has been a challenging year for all students and the ongoing disruption to education has again been most keenly felt by those taking their final exams this summer, the first to do so since 2019."

He added: "We are delighted with the resilience and perseverance shown by our students, however, we also recognise the additional anxiety caused by the events of the past three years and thank our parents and carers for their continued support.

"Our staff worked incredibly hard to ensure that our students have been cared for and have continued to receive the best education possible."