THIS year has turned out to be a very special year for Hanley Castle High School as its GCSE students have once again risen to the challenge of new and tougher exams in English, English Literature and Mathematics.
The new qualifications are assessed on a nine point scale, with grade 4 being equivalent to a C grade pass and grade 7 to an A grade, with new grade 8 and grade 9 passes to replace and extend on the old A*.
In English and English Literature 90 per cent of students achieved grade 4 or higher.
Twenty six per cent of grades awarded in English were at grade 7 or higher and 32 per cent in English Literature.
In mathematics an excellent 79 per cent of students achieved a grade 4 or higher, with 21 per cent at grade 7 or higher.
Seventy seven per cent of students gained good passes in English and mathematics, while 38 per cent achieved the English Baccalaureate – A*-C passes in all of the most prestigious academic subjects – English, mathematics, the sciences, a humanities subject and a modern foreign language.
There were some remarkable individual successes with both boys and girls achieving top grades across all subjects.
Aletea Palmer-Price led the way with a grade 8 in English, two perfect grade 9s in English Literature and mathematics and a massive further eight A* grades in subjects ranging from physics to Latin.
Aletea has had a busy summer, completing her Duke of Edinburgh silver award and volunteering with the National Citizenship Service.
She is now looking forward to moving up to Hanley Castle’s sixth form where she will be studying maths, English Literature, German and chemistry.
Hot on her heels were Madeleine Lloyd, Nicole Tonner and Georgia Cooper.
Madeleine scored three perfect grade 9s in English, English literature and mathematics, with six A*grades and an A in her other subjects.
Nicole added eight A* grades and an A to her three grade 8s in English, English Literature and mathematics, while Georgia achieved eight A* grades, an A, a grade 9 and two grade 8s.
Not to be outdone were Jamie Emerick and Sam Harry led the way for the boys.
Jamie gained five A* grades, an A and three grade 8s, while Sam also netted five A* grades and an A to add to his grades 9, 8 and 7 in English, English Literature and mathematics.
Sam will now take up his place in Hanley Castle sixth form to study maths, physics and music technology as he targets a sound engineering degree.
“I’m really glad to have done my best and that all the revision and effort I put in paid off,” he said.
“I found the new maths and English GCSEs particularly difficult but our teachers really supported us through the course.”
It was another brilliant year for the school’s top performing subjects with 100 per cent of Latin grades awarded at either A* or A while the percentages for chemistry, biology and physics were 45 per cent, 31 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.
It was also a very special year for music at Hanley Castle, with almost 40 per cent of students achieving A or A* grades in music GCSE and 35 per cent achieving an A or A* equivalent in music technology.
Other strong performers included double science, geography, history, German, drama, IT and PE.
Headteacher Lindsey Cooke said: WWe are all so pleased and proud for this exceptional group of students.
“Their results are a credit to them. They have worked tirelessly and with great good humour to make the very best of their talents and abilities.
“It has been lovely to see so many smiling faces as they realise that their hard work has paid off in such a wonderful way.
“We are really looking forward to see what they will achieve as they move on to our sixth form and A levels.
“The new tougher GCSEs have not slowed them down and they are set to achieve even greater things in the future.”
