Sheffield Girls’ students return to classroom to pick up ‘outstanding’ GCSE results

Year 11 pupils from the city’s leading independent school were invited into school on Thursday in form groups to enjoy their achievements with Head Nina Gunson and the Senior Leadership Team.

This year, 61 per cent of all results were grades 8 or 9, with 80 per cent achieving grade 7 or higher and 99.9 per cent grade 4 or above.

Mrs Gunson said: “I am so proud of this year group and their amazing set of results. It’s been a very challenging year for our GCSE students but they are a resilient and fearless cohort and we are sure they will go on to achieve great things in their Sixth Form years.

“Despite the challenges this period has presented us with, they have worked incredibly hard and shown such a positive attitude and we’re confident they are well equipped to enjoy a smooth transition onto the next level of their education.”

The students, who finished lessons at the school on Friday March 20 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, continued studies with live online classes reflecting their normal timetables and even spent the time set aside for the examinations up to mid-June looking ahead at specially designed bridging programmes to help prepare them for A-Level studies.

Mrs Gunson added: “At a time when the examinations would have been taking place, we offered materials to help students to smoothly transition into sixth form and their A-Level studies, including our bespoke ‘Beyond GCSEs’ course.

“This included each A-Level subject offering resources and activities to equip students with the skills and knowledge to make a successful start to their chosen A-Level courses.”

Students could also start work on their Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) which aims to link A-Levels with the skills pupils need at university and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as well as launching an initiative to produce a short video or presentation about a career that interests them.

Mrs Gunson said she ‘can't wait’ to welcome back all pupils on September 3.

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