Newcastle School for Boys pupils show great character to achieve top GCSE grades
Despite the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and changes to how grades have been assessed this year, Year 11 boys at Newcastle School for Boys have shown great character in achieving an excellent set of GCSE grades.
50% of GCSE grades awarded to the school’s Year 11 cohort were awarded at the top grades 9 to 7, with a 100% pass rate across the board. Almost half of the boys also received at least one grade 9 with many receiving multiple.
There was also cause for celebration on an individual level for those boys receiving a full set of grade 9s including Oliver Long and Thomas Nattress who have both been at the school for their entire education, joining Newcastle School for Boys’ Junior School before entering the Senior School.
‘We are immensely proud of the boys. Today is a time to celebrate their achievements and character and to recognise the dedication of our staff and the support of parents and families,’ says the school’s Head, David Tickner.
‘We are very much looking forward to seeing the boys all back in school in a few weeks as sixth formers.’
Many of the boys will now go onto study A level and other courses in the school’s Sixth Form alongside a full enrichment programme designed to develop the boys’ character, employability and life skills beyond their academic grades.
Alex Newman, Deputy Head for Teaching and Learning said of the result, ‘The boys have shown great resilience putting such effort into the exams sat here at school and in their coursework submissions, all through the uncertainty of isolation periods and the disruption to their education over the past 18 months.
It shouldn’t go unsaid that there is particular challenge at GCSE as the boys have to apply themselves to ten quite varying subjects and they have adapted incredibly over the change between classroom-based and online learning on a number of occasions. Their efforts and resilience really are reflected in the excellent set of results they have produced.’
Find out more about the North East’s GCSE success stories here