Catholic schools celebrate best-ever GCSE results

Students from St Benedicts, Ealing

The waiting is over. Congratulations everyone! The GCSE results came out today - and many pupils around the country had cause to celebrate - as Catholic schools earned some of their best-ever grades. The first reports sent to ICN today - follow below. *

BRISTOL

St Brendan's Sixth Form College is celebrating another year of great GCSE results. As well as offering one of the widest selections of A-levels and BTEC's in the South West, the College also runs GCSE courses in English, Maths and Biology. Most students on these courses have previously failed or achieved less than a C grade in these subjects after five years at their previous school, or in the case of Biology have discovered that they need a science GCSE in order to progress further along their chosen education or career pathway. Students on these GCSE courses picked up their results today and celebrated a year of hard work.

Vice Principal, Maddy Woolfenden commented: "We are delighted that our students at St Brendan's have done so well this year. Contrary to the national trend, the pass rate in Maths is significantly higher than it was last year at the College and despite students having only 9 months in which to improve their grades in Maths and English we have 75 students (71.4%) achieving at least a grade C in Maths and 68 students (68.3%) in English. This is a remarkable achievement for students who have previously struggled to achieve these important qualifications and their life opportunities are now substantially improved as a result."

Two students who were very happy that their hard work and determination had paid off were friends, Louise Blake, formerly from St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School and Chloe Reed who attended Oasis Academy Brislington. Both students achieved A's in their Maths; a hugely impressive achievement after just 9 months of study time at St Brendan's. Both students are looking forward to continuing their education with St Brendan's and will be returning in September to progress onto A-level courses.

Ebony Sherriffe and Jacob Sparks were also incredibly proud, along with their teachers, of what they had achieved. After gaining a C in English, Ebony who formerly attended Oldfield School, looks forward to returning to St Brendan's to study A-levels including Law. Jacob, a former pupil of Chew Valley School, passed his GCSE Maths with a C grade. This achievement along with his success in his BTEC Level 2 Sports Diploma means that sports enthusiast Jacob can continue at St Brendan's and progress onto Level 3 courses including BTEC Level 3 Sport (Development, Coaching & Fitness). Jacob plans to then go onto University to study Sports Coaching.

The newly introduced Free Standing Maths Qualification (FSMQ) which replaced the level 1 and 2 Functional Skills at St Brendan's in 2014 has also proved extremely successful at the College, with an overall pass rate of 97.9%. These students will be joining the hundreds of new pupils starting at the College in September, who will be completing GCSE Maths in 2016. Read more about St Benedicts: www.stbrn.ac.uk/

CHELMSFORD

Students from New Hall School, a leading Catholic independent boarding and day school, based in Chelmsford, are celebrating their GCSE results today. Both the A*/A grades and the A*-B grades have surpassed last year's results. Principal, Katherine Jeffrey, said: "Students from both our Boys' and our Girls' Divisions have record top grades, with an impressive 26 students achieving 9 or more A*/A grades this summer."

51% of GCSE grades, this year, are at A*/A. This is the highest percentage at New Hall since 2010 and the second highest percentage since 1998.

Hannah Rothmann is delighted with her perfect 10 A*s. Oliver Ledworth achieved 12 A*/A grades and Ethan Barber, Bronte Huckett, Antonia Kitchiner and Rebecca Kimberlin all achieved 11 A*/A grades. Jemima Walker achieved 9 A* and 1 A grades, with a remarkable 100% in 5 GCSE modules. Those celebrating 10 A*/A include Justin Law, Eloise Boyd, Gabrielle Clarke, Ben Coxon, Tom Denham, Will Evans, Gianni Fennings, Felix Fardell, Elena Holt and Alice Talbut.

Among the happy students celebrating today were Oliver Morris, Toby Shay, Emily Snow, Hollie Edmeades, Gregory Spires, Alice Locker, Emily Church, Jeremy Chao, and Sindhu Kugan, all of whom achieved at least 9 A*/A grades.

In Chelmsford, there is a double celebration in the Rothmann household, as twins Hannah and Danielle have achieved 18 A*/A grades between them.

On the site of a former palace of King Henry VIII and at a school that recently celebrated its 370th anniversary, it seems particularly fitting that History at New Hall has seen the whole cohort achieving A*/A grades. Head of History, Dr Shaw, was delighted to be celebrating with the students today: "This is a record for New Hall History results, with a stunning 66% of grades at A* and 100% of grades at A*/A. This follows outstanding History results at A Level last week, which included Alex Harker, Year 13, securing three A* and one A grades and his place at the University of Cambridge to read History."

New Hall also celebrates the success of its 'diamond model', which sees boys and girls taught in single-sex classes from Year 7 to the end of their GCSEs, whilst still enjoying the benefits of a co-educational campus. This year, both boys and girls have secured their best results in the past five years for A*/A grades.

Principal, Katherine Jeffrey, said: "We are delighted to celebrate excellent results with our students and their families. The students have worked incredibly hard and it is wonderful to share in their joy today."

For more information about new Hall School see: www.newhallschool.co.uk/

CROYDON

Coloma Convent Girls' School has achieved remarkable success for GCSE results in 2015. Coloma, based in Shirley, Croydon is recognised by the SSAT, the Schools, Students and Teachers Network, as being one of the top comprehensive schools in the country. 15 girls have been awarded a fantastic five or more A* with Fiadhnaid Lydon and Laura Shutler who both achieved 11A*'s. Gabriela Gosnell secured 10 A*'s, and Elsa Withnell and Tamara Sinivassen a total of 9 A*'s each. A truly wonderful achievement, and along with last week's excellent A Level results confirms that Coloma really is an 'outstanding' school.
Overall the results were excellent with 14% of all grades being A*, 42% A* or A's, 72% A*, A's or B's and 90% A* to C. All girls follow a diverse and extensive GCSE curriculum with traditional academic subjects being both popular and successful. X% gained the 'English Baccalaureate' the Government's challenging award for a range of traditional GCSE subjects.

Mrs Martin, Headteacher commented: "We congratulate all our girls on their brilliant results. They have a strong support network of wonderful staff, parents, governors and friends, enabling them to realise their full personal, social and academic potential. We are extremely delighted that the vast majority will be staying at Coloma for 'A' Level. Our Year 11 girls have worked incredibly hard and we are very proud of all of them".

Coloma students have a track record of academic success, whilst engaging in a huge range of extra-curricular activity and service to the community. Sporting success at Coloma in 2015 includes reaching national finals in football, netball, rounders and lacrosse. This year has also seen great musical success with the highest achievement awards in the finals of the National Festival of Music for Youth, and subsequently invitations to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, Westminster Cathedral and as far afield as St Mark's Basilica, Venice.

Tantamount to Coloma's success is the traditional sense of values, morals, and community life that ensure pupils leave the school well equipped for a happy and rewarding future.

There are a limited number of places available on some Sixth Form courses starting September 2015. Prospective students should email srudduck@coloma.croydon.sch.uk for further details.

STONYHURST

GCSE candidates at Stonyhurst in Lancashire have achieved their best-ever results - an outstanding set of results this year, with 51% of papers scoring A* and A grades. Almost a quarter of all entries were awarded A*, and 90% achieved A* to C. These are the best GCSE results ever achieved at the College, and follow Stonyhurst's best recorded A level results this summer, with 71% of candidates gaining A* to B grades.

High achievers include Eleanor Charles from Clitheroe, and Alice Keunen from London, who both gained 10 A* grades. Seven pupils gained 10 GCSEs at A* and A.

Stonyhurst Headmaster, Andrew Johnson, said: "These results show what hard work, excellent teaching and close tutorial support can achieve and I am delighted for our students." See Stonyhurst's website: www.stonyhurst.ac.uk/

WEST LONDON

The 2015 cohort at St Benedict's School, Ealing, west London produced an excellent crop of GCSE results. The percentage of A* grades at 23.2% was the second highest ever and the percentage of A*/A grades at 52.2% was up 3% on last year.

55 pupils achieved six or more A grades and 25 of these achieved 5 or more A* grades. There were some outstanding individual performances headed by Liam Carty-Howe, Marcin Scicinski and Rebecca Walker each with 11A* grades; Ben Ainslie and George Johnson with 10A*s; Matthew Carr, Ben Farmer and Alvin Lee with 9A*s; Milly Girton, Luca Lota, Ambrose MacFall with 8A*; Ieuan Beetham, Louis Delsol, Sarah Philip and Nicholas Sakkas with 7A*.

Seven students also sat Additional Mathematics - six achieved the top grade A and one a grade B.

The average number of passes at C and above per candidate was 9.6, with an overall pass rate of 93.4%.

Headmaster Chris Cleugh commented: "These are very pleasing results. They represent a marked improvement on last year and are very close to the challenging targets we set ourselves last November. I congratulate all our pupils and thank the teachers who helped them achieve so well." Visit St Benedict's website: www.stbenedicts.org.uk/

* If you would to add your school's result to this list - please email ICN (news@indcatholicnews.com)

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