Students celebrate GCSE results

It was the first time in two years that students were able to sit their exams and in many cases able to gather at their schools to find out the outcome.

Councillor Gillian Ford, Deputy Leader of Havering Council, said: 

“It’s a special day for many young people in Havering today and my congratulations go out to those who are celebrating their success.

“We have some hugely talented young people who will now be deciding the next steps to take in terms of taking their A-levels, going onto vocational training or apprenticeships and I wish every one one of them success for the future.”

At Gaynes School, Upminster, where the council visited to find out how pupils had performed, there were many smiles as students opened the brown envelope containing their results.

Headteacher Annabelle Kirkpatrick said the school was celebrating a stellar set of results, which had improved on the 2019 figures when pupils last sat exams.

Around 55 pupils at the school each sat 10 GCSEs.

She said: “We are so glad that yet again Gaynes School is on the map and the data will show that we are one of the highest performing schools in the borough.

“It has been three years in the making. Any gaps in pupils’ learning were minimalised because of the input and investment made by staff.”

Head boy Solomon, who will be joining a football academy, and studying for three A-levels, said:

“I’m happy because I was predicted to get 3s and 4s, but got 6s and 7s in some of my subjects.”

“I surprised myself in some subjects,” said head girl Leila, who got grade 8 in maths and in business and will be going to Sacred Heart School to do her A-levels.

She has her sights set on going into banking and accountancy.

Lucas moved from a school in northern England where he said he would have faced failure if he had remained there. 

A delighted Lucas, who will now be going on to study for his A-levels in business, geography and media, said:

“At my old school, if you came out of school with no grades you were not even bothered, but here I’ve had a lot of support, staff help you during the holidays and you can come into school during half-term.”

Bailey who made the highest level of progress in the school, passed his GCSEs and is planning to start an apprenticeship in welding and fabrication.

He praised his headteacher: “We’ve got the best headteacher. She came in and changed everything. Without her I would not have got this. I was predicted to fail, not even get a low grade.”

Other students will be going to study in a variety of ways such as at the Anglo European School, economics at Brampton Manor Academy and fashion and art.

Students across the borough who didn’t achieve the grades they’d hoped for can speak directly to their schools about the options open to them.

They can also visit the gov.uk website for careers advice