Pride at The Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing as students celebrate school's best GCSE results yet

Against the publicised backdrop of results dipping nationally following two years of centre-assessed grades, the hard work of year 11 pupils at the academy has resulted in them achieving excellence across the curriculum, with the school’s results being significantly higher than previous exam years.

Catherine Urwin, vice principal, said: “We are so proud of this cohort and what they have achieved. They faced a very disrupted, uncertain time during their GCSE years and have had to contend with being the first year group to return to more normal Key Stage 4 exam arrangements, despite much of their schooling being forced online during years nine and ten.

"These excellent results are testament to their resilience and effort. We’re delighted with all the wonderful courses they are going on to pursue next year, not least how many of them are returning for the next phase in their education here in our W6 sixth form.”

Once again around 80 per cent of students were entered for the Ebacc set of qualifications, over double the usual national average rate, underlining the academy’s firm commitment to its students studying a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum.

Excellent outcomes could be seen across the range of subjects, with pass rates of over 90 per cent in many, notably biology, chemistry and physics, PE and sport, performing and production arts.

The core subjects of maths and English saw another year of impressive and improving results, with the number of students gaining a strong pass of a grade 5 or above in both subjects, increasing by 9 per cent since the last set of validated exam results in 2019. In English, 20 per cent of students achieved a pass at grade 7 or above.

Among the numerous examples of outstanding personal achievement were many examples of exceptional individual performance.

Alex Stewart, Libby Ayres, Tiffany Grice and Ethan Bryant-Smith excelled by receiving grades 7 to 9 or equivalent in every subject, each achieving multiple grade 9s or equivalent.

When asked about his string of 9s, Alex said: “Very happy. Very, very happy with the results. I was expecting a few 9s, but not that many. A few are definitely a surprise, especially Spanish, which I found a challenge.”

Annabel Basset, Rui Silverthorne, Keira Sheppard, Blake Waddington and Maisie Flavell all achieved grades 6 to 9 or equivalent in each of their subjects, including at least one top grade 9 each.

Kieran Scanlon, principal, said: “This group of students have really come together to make the most of their year 11, following a tricky couple of years. I’m delighted to see so many fantastic individual success stories, down to their hard work and dedication, supported by our fantastic teaching and support staff.

"This great group of young people are going forward with a really solid grounding, which will help them realise all the wonderful ambitions they have. We can’t wait to have so many of them return to us in September to join our sixth form, as we know they’ll flourish and go on to great things, just as our current year 13 students are following their excellent results last week. It’s been a very proud year indeed for the academy.”