A hubbub of laughter, excitement and a few tears of joy filled the Senior School foyer as students came together to celebrate their GCSE results at Northampton High School GDST. This cohort of Year 11 students have earned themselves outstanding GCSE results in the year that public examinations returned to pre-pandemic grading levels, with no mitigation in terms of marking by the exam boards. The school is delighted to have recorded an excellent number of high grades, with 9 grade levels overall higher than in 2019 at 22%. 42% of grades awarded were at grade 9/8 (A* equivalent), in addition, 56% of students secured an impressive 6 or more GCSEs at grade 9-7. Overall, 9-5 grades returned to 2019 standards and the highest grades from 9-6 showed a significant improvement on the pre-pandemic years.
Dr May Lee, Head, praised the students and staff, commenting “After much speculation in the media about a substantial drop in top GCSE grades awarded this summer, I am delighted that the enormous hard work and talent of our teachers and pupils over the past two years has been reflected in an excellent set of results. Congratulations to our Year 11 pupils receiving their GCSE results. They performed extremely well over the course of their GCSE years and should be very proud of every grade. Today they can finally enjoy the fruits of their lengthy labours.”
“This is an exciting year for Northampton High as we welcome back one of the largest cohorts of Year 12 students for many years, who have between them achieved some outstanding grades, including over 60% were graded 9-7, surpassing the previous highest results in 2019, and 26 pupils (37% of the cohort) were awarded 9-6 grades in every subject studied. These results are the culmination of lots of hard work, perseverance and determination by our pupils, but also a reflection of the commitment and care of the teachers and the fantastic parental support. This combination has certainly been a contributing factor in Northampton High’s strong performance this year and well done to each and every one of our pupils.”
“It has been a privilege to work with this group of students as they are most certainly a determined and motivated group of young adults. It is also wonderful to see our ethos and approach to supporting young people is being rewarded by some outstanding academic results. They are now ready to start their A Levels from a strong position, and we look forward to welcoming the vast majority back to join us in the Sixth Form, with great confidence.”
In addition to the success of the many who now see themselves as academic high-flyers, ready for the challenges of A Level study, there are also many individual stories of pupils overcoming adversity to achieve personal success which give everyone here deep satisfaction. These results are a resounding vindication of the drive, passion and resilience of our pupils, their teachers and parents.
We are immensely proud of all that they have achieved both academically and through their wider commitment to life at Northampton High. Managing to keep on top of 10 or 11 GCSEs, while contributing widely and well to the broad and rich co- and supra-curricular programmes is no small feat. It has been achieved with sustained good effort and characteristic good grace. We can’t wait to see what wonderful things they will achieve in our Sixth Form – it’s exciting to see them discovering their strengths, interests and talents and developing them as they prepare for the future.
