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GCSE Results 2018
We were very pleased to congratulate so many of our pupils in our ‘Class of 2018’ on their achievements on Thursday 23 August when they came into school to collect their GCSE results.
Following the change to terminal exams only and a new grading system, initially phased in for assessments in English and Maths in 2017, this was another year of uncertainty for pupils and their teachers as the examinations in Science and the foundation subjects also moved to the new 9-1 grades. It is important to remember that 9 is now the highest grade and it is expected that only 2% of the cohort nationally will secure this top mark.
Many of our pupils have shown themselves to be remarkably resilient. They and their teachers have coped well with the changes and most have embraced the challenge! The majority of these new terminal exams require candidates to recall and apply knowledge and skills developed and acquired over a two year period without the back up of coursework and, with limited resources and practice papers available to them, our teachers’ planning, resourcefulness and support reassuringly prepared our pupils for these new assessments and their shared high expectations helped everyone rise to the challenge! As a consequence, our results this year remain broadly in line with those of previous years and, as ever, there are some truly exceptional individual achievements:
- 74% of pupils in our ‘Class of 2018’ attained 5 or more standard passes (grades 9-4);
- 73% of pupils attained standard passes in English;
- 77% of pupils attained standard passes in Maths;
- 19% of all grades awarded were grades 9-7;
- 6 pupils attained 9 or more grades 9-7 and a further 27 pupils secured 5 or more of the highest grades across the curriculum;
- 15 grade 9s were awarded across the Science subjects and there were more grade 9s awarded in Languages, Humanities and the arts-based subjects.
We are also pleased for many other pupils who, given their individual starting points, have made tremendous progress and they should feel equally pleased with the range of grades they have secured across the curriculum, which in some cases was personalised to meet their individual needs.
We are delighted that so many of our pupils have done themselves, their parents and the school proud and they leave Deer Park equipped with the skills required to be successful independent life-long learners. We look forward to learning how they have built on these strong foundations when we catch up with them again on Thursday 8 November 2018 at our annual Key Stage 4 Celebration of Achievement. We wish them all every success in the future.
As Headteacher, I continue to be immensely proud of our pupils’ achievements and our teachers’ unwavering commitment. Our pupils who also sat their GCSEs in Statistics and Religious Studies this summer while in Year 10 are also deserving of praise and our congratulations.
Chiquita Henson, Headteacher