Bishop Luffa students celebrate stellar GCSE results as grades return to pre-pandemic levels

Results day at Bishop Luffa School. Photo: Bishop Luffa School.

Students at Bishop Luffa celebrated another raft of excellent GCSE results this year, as Year 11s opened their envelopes on school grounds.

Austen Hindman, head teacher, was eager to praise the hard work of faculty and pupils: “Our students have shown real character to come through the difficulties of the last few years,” he said.”Results have returned to pre-Covid levels, but of course those students in 2019 hadn’t been through what these students have been through. We are incredibly proud of them, and if you have a 16 year old in your family, you should be proud of them, too.’

Among the students celebrating today was Eddie Baldry. Anxiety kept Eddie from attending school for the whole of years eight and nine, and he didn’t think he’d ever return. Not only did he come back, however, but he passed all of his GCSEs – including a grade 9 in English.

Nika Muravets is also celebrating, having moved to the UK from Ukraine last July, and achieving 9 strong passes at GCSE.

Katie Faulkner, head of Keystage four, also praised students and their efforts: “I am not sure that many adults would have coped with this amount of adversity and still come out smiling. They are an incredible group of young people, who deserve this success.”

Among this year’s raft of top performers were:

▪ Charlotte Hatton and Erin Pullen, who both gained seven grade 9s

▪ Alicia Witch, Zoe Smyth and Alex Wilburn, who gained five grade 9s

▪ Aaron Butters, who gained four grade 9s and six grade 8s.

▪ Sam Goldsmith, James Quail, Jasim Rahman, Johnny Sargent, Olivia Frymann and Ioan Harley who all gained four grade 9s.

Overall, 76 per cent of students achieved a grade 4 or above in English and Maths, and 53 per cent achieved grade 5 or above in both subjects. The average grade at the school was 5.2