LIVE: GCSE results day 2022 in Sheffield as students find out their marks following return of exams

Students and staff at Sheffield Park Academy are celebrating today as GCSE qualifications are awarded.

Some individual standout successes are:

Students also performed well in a selection of vocational courses, including Health and Social Care and Performing Arts where the average grade was above a grade 6.

These top results follow the release of last week’s A Level results which saw all Year 13s at Sheffield South East VI Form who applied to university secure a place. Several are now set to go on to Russell Group institutions, including the University of Nottingham and Newcastle University. Many of this year’s Year 11 students will be taking up their place at the popular VI Form in September.

Congratulating students on their achievements, Roland Freeman, principal at Sheffield Park Academy, said: “Well done to our Year 11 cohort on today’s GCSE results. Following a challenging few years due to the pandemic, it is fantastic to see the ambition and hard work of our students reflected in these grades. Thank you to our excellent team of staff here at the academy for their enduring determination in improving the knowledge of our young people and their ongoing commitment to making sure our students achieve their very best. We would also like to thank the parents and carers of our young people whose support has been key in achieving these strong academic outcomes. We are very much looking forward to welcoming many of our Year 11s back into our VI Form in September where they will taking up their A Level studies or other vocational courses.”

The vice principal of Hinde House Academy says their assembly hall was filled with ‘a few very happy tears’ for GCSE results day this morning.

Nearly half of all pupils at the academy scored an 8 in at least one subject today, and more than half of students achieved a 5 or higher in both maths and english.

Meanwhile, a total of 11 grade 9s were achieved in English Literature and an “incredible” fifth of students achieved a grade 7 or higher in maths.

Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union, said: “Pupils and their teachers have worked hard in uniquely challenging circumstances to secure today’s results and should be congratulated.

“After celebrating their hard work and dedication it is right to turn attention to examinations in future years.

“Young people who are sitting exams in 2023 have also faced a lot of disruption to their schooling and need support through greater investment in education recovery.

“The results achieved today were secured largely in spite of, rather than because of, the support received from Government for education recovery programmes.

“Teachers deserve their hard work to be matched with a restorative above-inflation pay award after a decade of real-terms pay erosion.”

Students and staff at Stocksbridge High School are celebrating the best GCSE results in the school’s history.

Since examinations were last taken in 2019, the proportion of students achieving good GCSE grades has gone up by more than 10 per cent. There are many individual successes with several students achieving across-the-board grades of 9 and 8. This milestone of best-ever outcomes follows on from the school being rated Good by Ofsted in May.

Headteacher, Andy Ireland said: “Our students should be very proud of their incredible achievement. Despite the disruption and challenges caused by the pandemic, these young people have demonstrated huge degrees of resilience, determination and effort which have all paid off with great outcomes. My very best wishes go to them in their next steps in life.

“I would also like to thank all the staff at the school for their amazing hard work and dedication in supporting all of our students through the pandemic to achieving these brilliant results.”

While The Star was sat in the assembly hall at Newfield School writing up results, two students who had just passed their English and Maths walked over bursting with something to say about their teachers so it could be on the live blog. We wanted to share this with you today.

Sophia Kahn said: “So Newfield School is great at teaching because it enables me to pass my GCSEs which I thought I had no hope in. I did not expect to do this good so I’m absolutely amazed.”

Romany Watson: “This school, it pushes you to your limit. I never thought I would get my English and I’ve got it. That only happened because they pushed me to put in extra hours. I missed out on PE and other lessons to do it, which I didn’t like at the time. I told myself there was no point and I wouldn’t get it, but I’ve passed today because they pushed me.”

Councillor Dawn Dale, Co-Chair of the Education, Children and Families Policy committee, said:

“Congratulations to all young Sheffielders getting their GCSE results today. Whatever your results are, it is a huge achievement to reach this moment and I hope you all feel incredibly proud of yourselves.

“Whether you want to pursue further education, training or enter the world of work, don’t forget that there is help and support available from your school when choosing what you do next.

“I hope that you are all able to breathe a collective sigh of relief and celebrate with your friends and families. I wish you the best of luck wherever your next steps take you.”

Top grades for GCSEs are down on last year - but remain higher than pre-pandemic levels, as UK students received their results on Thursday.

In 2021, the proportion of GCSE entries awarded top grades surged to an all-time high after exams were cancelled for the second year in a row due to Covid-19 and pupils were given results determined by their teachers.

Similar to the pattern with A-level results, published last week, it had been expected that grades would drop below last year, but remain above those from 2019 as students returned to sitting exams for the first time in three years.

Figures published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) - covering GCSE entries from students predominantly in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - showed top grades of 7/A have fallen from 28.9% in 2021 to 26.3% this year, a drop of 2.6 percentage points.

But this remains higher than the equivalent figure for 2019 of 20.8%.

The proportion of entries receiving a 4/C - considered a pass - dropped from 77.1% in 2021 to 73.2% this year, a fall of 3.9 percentage points, but higher than 67.3% in 2019.

Girls continued their lead over boys this year, with 30.0% of entries achieving a 7/A, compared with 22.6% for males.

The gap has closed slightly from last year, when 33.4% of female entries were awarded 7/A or above compared with 24.4% for males, a lead of 9.0 percentage points.

Separate figures, published by exams regulator Ofqual, showed that 2,193 16-year-olds in England got grade 9 in all their subjects - including 13 students who did at least 12 GCSEs.

While traditional A*-G grades are used in Northern Ireland and Wales, in England these have been replaced in with a 9-1 system, where nine is the highest.

A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade, and a 7 is broadly equivalent to an A.

Kath Thomas, interim chief executive officer of JCQ, congratulated students getting their results “after lots of hard work and all the challenges of the pandemic”.

She said: “We’re pleased that exams are back, as they’re the fairest way to assess students and give everyone the chance to show what they know.

“This is the first time in three years that results have been based on formal exams and coursework, so it’s a welcome step back towards normality.

“These results will help them progress to the next stage of their education and make some important decisions about their future.

“As planned - and as with last week’s A-level results, these results are higher than the last set of summer exams in 2019, but lower than last year’s teacher-assessed grades.”

Meanwhile, exam board Pearson warned this week that thousands of students could miss out on being issued BTec (Business and Technology Education Council) results on Thursday.

It said that changes this year, made in order to take into account disruption to teaching and learning during the pandemic, had “added more complexity to the process” and that without full information they are unable to award students their results.

Meadowhead School says it is ‘overjoyed’ with their pupils’ results this year after two years of hard work.

75 per cent of students earned a 4 or higher in both English and Maths, the two most crucial subjects for further study and employment.

The average grade across the school has also risen to a 5.

The schools also claims it has seen a record number of 9s across all subjects.

Headteacher, Mrs Kam Grewal-Joy, said: “It has been an excellent year for Meadowhead students this year.

“Earlier this year we were awarded our Ofsted Good judgement and now we have seen sharp increases in both the A level and GCSE performances. This is a wonderful achievement for students, staff and governors, and is testimony to everyone’s hard work and commitment.

“As a school we are immensely proud of our students’ achievements this year. We will continue to build on these successes to ensure that Meadowhead School becomes the outstanding school our community deserves”.

It was all smiles at King Ecgbert School in Dore this morning as students came in to collect GCSE and level 2 BTEC exam results.

After having terrible disruption to their education through the last three years, the school says students have shown ‘incredible determination and resilience’to achieve grades that are of a level that exceed pre-pandemic levels.

Head teacher Paul Haigh said “To see 80% of our students achieve 5 standard GCSE passes or more would be cause for great celebration any year but, considering what these students have had to contend with, it is particularly inspiring and heart-warming this year. It shows not just the high academic standards King Ecgbert students are taught to but also how well developed their character is to be able to determinedly achieve to this standard and not be knocked back by the constant disruptions caused by the pandemic.”

Director of Sixth form Becs McCairns reported long queues of students signing up for the sixth form. She said “What pleases me most about these very high grades is that they allow so many students to access our great sixth form and then access the social mobility a university education offers- many of the children we’re signing up today will be the first in their families to do that and then go on to professional careers.”

Relieved pupils at Sheffield’s Newfield School say they feared the worse heading in for their results today after studying through the pandemic.

Happy shrieks rang out in the assembly hall at Newfield today as pupils arrived after 9am to collect their envelopes.

While the grades are still being tallied, the school believes this year’s results are some of their best ever.

One high-flying pupil, Hannah Boudaja, who went away today with a 7 in English Literature and an 8 in French, said: “This has been amazing, I’m so happy.

“I was expecting the worst today. It’s been very stressful over the past two years but everyone has been so supportive at school.

“In my mock results I didn’t do very well but everyone understood my fears and supported me all the way. Everyone helped so much.”

Another pupil, Eliza Lovely, who earned a 9 in both English Literature and Religious Studies, said: “I think people don’t understand the pressure of the past two years. For example, getting the advance information made me feel like I needed to do better.

“Homme studying was quite difficult. I think I really struggled to focus personally, but I managed to find the motivation.”

Deputy headteacher Chris Jenkinson told The Star: “Against three years of pandemic and a disadvantaged cohort, we’ve worked super hard for our kids and they have done really, really well.

“They’ve not let that disadvantage get them down and they haven’t said ‘oh I’ll give up’, they’ve fought hard for some great results.”