GCSE Results Day: Exam celebrations for students across Tameside

This morning, pupils gathered nervously at schools across the country to pick up their GCSE results.

This year’s GCSE cohort are the first since before the pandemic to sit both of their Year 10 and Year 11 GCSE papers, with the exam systems returning to more pre-pandemic levels

After an overall dip in grades for A-Level students when their results were announced last week, many Year 11 pupils said that they had felt ‘worried’ or 'apprehensive' in the run-up to this set of results.

Mossley Hollins student, Cara Dote, received the much-coveted Grade 9 in all twelve subjects making her one of 1160 students in the country.

“I’m so happy, I can’t believe it,” She said, “I didn’t expect this at all, especially not for English.”

Cara will soon be attending Greenhead College in Huddersfield to study Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Physics - with hopes of furthering her knowledge in a few years through a maths related degree at a prestigious university.

Ryan Lever, also a pupil at Mossley Hollins, has plans to pursue a career in performing arts and is ‘hoping to make it to the west end’.

In September, he will be taking the next step towards this at CAPA College in Wakefield, where he will study Musical Theatre.

He said: “I normally take exams quite well so I felt they went okay, although I’d seen the posts about A-Level grade boundaries being harsh so I was feeling quite nervous. I’m happy with my results today though and I got a distinction for dance.”

Fellow student, Maisie Knott, also mentioned the rise is grade boundaries. However she shared that she was ‘really happy’ with her results, after receiving all Grade 8’s and 9’s except for in Further Maths.

She is now hoping to study English Literature, Politics and History at Ashton Sixth Form.

“I’m really happy with how I did,” Joshua Aspin, also from Mossley, said, “It’s just a relief - I’m definitely ready for the next steps.”

Joshua will also be attending Ashton Sixth Form to study Maths, Further Maths, History and Chemistry, after receiving two Grade 9’s.

Another exceptional individual performance was Brooke Bamford who achieved Grade 9 in four of her subjects and a Grade 8 in five others.

Mia Newton, Amber Webster, Eloise Brown and Max Whitwam also achieved Grades 8-9 in a number of subjects.

The school is also delighted to report astonishing progress in learning across the five years from Nathan Crossland, Gracie-Rose Mallon, Tyler Butters and Jasmine Strongitharm Small, all of whom worked exceptionally hard despite, in some cases, very challenging circumstances, and performed at a level way above expectations.

Mossley Hollins headteacher, Andrea Din, said: “As always, we are very proud of our students, particularly given the challenging circumstances which they have endured over the past few years. 

“They have worked extremely hard and risen to so many challenges to secure results which will allow them to take the next steps into education, training or employment.

“Students’ achievement is very pleasing in a range of subjects particularly in Separate Sciences with more than 50% of students achieving a Grade 7 or above in all 3 sciences.

“The school would also like to thank our parents and families for their help, support and encouragement and our staff for all their hardwork and for the support they have provided to our students.

“As always we look forward to hearing of the continued success of our students at college and beyond.”

In Dukinfield, at All Saints Catholic High School, I spoke to student Julia Suchodolska who shared that she was ‘so pleased’ with her results.

After achieving four Grade 9’s, Julia said: “I can’t believe it - I thought, especially after the A-Level results, that it would go really wrong but I’m so pleased.

“I did struggle a lot in some of them, I just felt really uneasy and unsure. I was more confident in some than others too but it’s just all turned out so well.

“It really is the biggest relief and I’m so excited to go to college.”

Julia will soon be attending Xaverian College to study Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths before she enters a career in either medicine or aerospace engineering.

At Rayner Stephens High School there were plenty of excellent grades to celebrate, with multiple students achieving Grade 9's.

Headteacher Martin Davies said: “We’re really pleased. In a year that was always going to be difficult, with grades nationally being pulled back down to 2019 levels, we weren’t quite sure where the grades would sit but we’re delighted as a school.

“In most areas we’ve improved on last year’s results which is just another indication of improvements we’re making at the school.

“We’re delighted with some fantastic individual results; it’s been a very positive morning overall. It’s no secret that these students have had a tough time and really had to put the work in, but they’ve got what they deserved.”