Rotherham students' GCSE results joy

Kyle and Ellie Cotton from Dinnington High School both secured six A* or A grades in their exams.

St Pius X Catholic High School pupil Pawel Salaciak, who joined in Year 7 with very little English after coming from Poland, achieved the best results of all Rotherham students, gaining 15 GCSEs with 12 at A*/A grades.

For a breakdown of the top performers at all schools, click here.

A spokesman for St Pius said: “We are obviously delighted with the results of all of our students who deserve recognition for their hard work. However, we do feel Pawel is of particular note.”

At Maltby Academy, students scored record GCSE and BTEC results, with 74 per cent achieving the key measure of 5A* to C including English and maths — an almost ten per cent increase on 2015.

Top of the class was Kate Harrison, with 11 A*s and one A, while Matthew Claxton (eight A*s and three As), Bethany Hunt (eight A*s and three As) Daniel Hunt (eight A*s and two As), Alisha Yakub (7 A*s and four As), Georgie Chambers (six A*s and three As), Danielle Hosier (three A*s, six As and one B) and Bryonie Hunt (four A*s two Distinction*s and one B) were also among the best-performing students.

Principal Rachel Nash said: “Both students and staff have worked exceptionally hard and deserve every success. Well done to all!

“With the highest number of A* and A grades, many more students are looking to go on to study in our Sixth Form,”

Overall, 88 per cent achieved an A* to C grade in English and 76 per cent did so in maths grades A*-C.

Wales High School head Pepe Di’Iasio praised students’ “superb” results, with more than half of students achieving at least one A* or A and almost every student achieved at least 5 passes."

Overall performance remained above the national average, which fell slightly this year, with two out of every three pupils achieving five A* to C grades including English and maths and 97 per cent securing at least five A* to G grades including English and maths.

Daniel Scobbie’s ten A*s and one A was the best set of results, closely

followed by Joseph Gill and Georgia Mason (both scored eight A*s and three As), while Daniel and Joseph were among the top nine per cent of further maths candidates and achieved an A**

Communications officer Paul Milligan added: “Our teachers are particularly delighted with the success of Ellie Fisher, who only joined the school during Year 11, and went on to achieve seven grades at either A* or A.”

Rotherham sisters Megan and Lauren Tolley were celebrating a bumper haul of A-grades at both GCSE and A-level respectively.

Sheffeld High School for Girls student Megan notched up 11 A*s at GCSE, a week after Lauren achieved As in Geography and ICT A-levels last week.

Dinnington High School’s outstanding student was Courtney Briggs, with nine A* or As.

Other teenagers with top marks included Ellie Stones (eight A*s or As), Charlotte Hopwood, Heather Porter and Ellie Walker (seven A*s or As), plus twins Kyle and Ellie Cotton and classmates Sam Andrew, Caitlin Barton, Matthew Goold and Lauren Hinchcliffe (with six A*s each).

The school achieved 64 per cent pass rate in the English Baccalaureate and 52  per cent achieved A* to C in both English and Maths.

Dinnington is holding a Post-16 open afternoon from 3pm to 5pm on September 22 with a free BBQ for potential A level students.

At Brinsworth Emily Horst collected 6 x A* and 3 x A, as well as an outstanding performance award in Further Maths. And at Aston both Alexander Kitson and Laura Messenger gained 12 x A* and one grade A each.

Council officials said they would not be making comparisons with last results as schools were no longer being measured on the “five A* to C” score.

Instead, a measure called Progress 8 will track how pupils have progressed during their secondary education.

Schools are releasing figures for the the percentage of pupils who gained an A*- C in both their English and maths GCSEs and a council spokeswoman said early indications showed Rotherham had higher than average results, which may be confirmed later in the year.

Cllr Gordon Watson, the council’s deputy leader, said: “Congratulations to all the students who have worked so hard to achieve these results. They are a credit to the teachers, parents and of course themselves.”

Further changes are expected to results again next year, when students will not receive their GCSE grade in the form of a letter, such as A, B or C, for

English language, English literature or maths. Instead, they will receive a numbered grade, from one to nine, with nine the highest. Other subjects will follow in later years.

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