GCSE results in Eastbourne and Hailsham: ‘This year’s cohort of pupils should be especially proud of their achievements’

GCSEs were out today (Thursday, August 25) and students across Eastbourne and Hailsham have opened that dreaded envelope.

Eastbourne College said it is celebrating its highest ever number of GCSE grades achieved at grade 9, the highest grade.

Headmaster Tom Lawson said: “It is wonderful to see that GCSE results this year are up – with almost a quarter of all grades awarded at the top grade 9, our highest ever by this measure.

“We have succeeded in matching and improving on results from the past two years, which were marked under the CAG and TAG systems – indicating also that our teachers’ assessed grades last year were not inflated.

“Having endured all the challenges of the pandemic as they began studying for their GCSEs, this year’s cohort of pupils should be especially proud of their achievements.”

Ratton headteacher Gavin Peevers said: “We are delighted for our students, and it is a privilege to be able to share in their collective success after the disruptions and challenges of the last two years.

“This year group embodied our school virtues of effort, teamwork and responsibility in exemplary fashion and have been rewarded with our strongest set of results for students sitting GCSE exams since the introduction of 9-1 GCSE grades. We wish all students good luck in the next stage of their lives and their future careers.”

A spokesperson for Eastbourne Academy said: “We are very proud of the results our students achieved. They have shown excellent determination which will enable them to make the next step in their education and training and set them up for life long success.

“Despite the difficulties faced with disruptions caused by covid, many students have excelled in achieving the very top grades which puts them alongside the top achieving students in the country. Over 20 students have achieved a distinction in their vocational qualifications and many students have made very strong progress from when they joined us in Year 7.”

The Turing School celebrated its first ever GCSE results day. A school spokesperson said it has been ‘a pressured year for our young people’.

They said: “We are so very proud of them and their determination and dedication for their exams.

“As a result of the students’ hard work we have every student placed at College or in an apprenticeship which is so important for them in this challenging climate. The students and staff have worked incredibly hard to ensure they achieved the results they need to move onto their next stage in their academic careers. We wish them every success for the future.”

St Catherine’s College said it’s celebrated its best ever results.

Headteacher Sol Berhane said: “Congratulations to our class of 2022. The students have worked amazingly hard with our dedicated staff. They fully deserve their outstanding success.

“The school feels blessed to be serving its community and particularly wants to thank the parents, staff and students for their unwavering love, care and support through a challenging few years.”

Willingdon Community School is ‘overjoyed to report the strongest outcomes the school has ever had’.

Headteacher Emily May said: “Our entire school community has shown resilience, ambition and maturity in adverse conditions. This set of results shows the power of families and the school community working as one. Our ethos is personal excellence and the students have demonstrated this in abundance.”

Cavendish headteacher Peter Merchant said: “The grades that our pupils have achieved are a reflection of their hard work and resilience throughout their time at the school and they can rightly feel proud of what they have achieved in challenging circumstances. They can look forward to the next stage of their education and we wish them well for the future.”

Hailsham Community College students opened GCSE and BTEC results.

Phil Matthews, executive principal, said: “It has been an incredibly challenging time for all due to circumstances completely out of their control. We are immensely proud of their resilience, hard work and achievements, especially after such a difficult and disrupted few years. I would also like to publicly thank the teachers who have worked tirelessly in support of the students to ensure they are able to progress onto their chosen area of further education and study.”

John Tuson, Bede’s Senior School deputy head, said: “There has been a great deal written and spoken about inflated grades over the past two years. How brilliant therefore to see our students managing to do even better in the exam hall than when those grades were being awarded to them by their teachers, with the ‘CAGs’ of previous years. This particular cohort of young people, across the country, has missed out on so much and so, to see them succeed in this way is genuinely inspirational.”

Bede’s headmaster Peter Goodyer said: “I am immensely proud of all our Upper Fifth pupils and every one of their achievements this year. Our pupils have demonstrated a huge amount of conscientiousness in respect of their studies and these results are testament to that. We look forward to the next part of their educational journey, building on the valuable lessons learnt not just for the classroom but for life.”

Gildredge House headteacher Craig Bull said: “Despite studying through a pandemic, our students have done extremely well. Their results are the culmination of dedication and perseverance and the support of their parents and our staff. It was fantastic to see the joy in their faces as they collected their results and celebrated together.”

All photos supplied by the schools