VIDEO: Tiverton High School celebrate record breaking GCSE results

IT was another record breaking year for results at Tiverton

High School with those achieving five or more A-C grades reaching 60 per cent.

Of those A-C grades 45 per cent included maths and English

equalling it’s best performance, and overall 93 per cent of students passed

their GCSEs with a grade G or above which is more than ever.

Despite being able to find out their results online for the

first time, students gathered at the High School for 9.30am to find out together.

Former head boy Jack Wakefield achieved 9A*s, 3As a B and an

AS level in critical thinking. He said: “This morning I work up and I was

really worried I wouldn’t get what I was hoping for and this is a lot more than

I was expecting.

“In the last week I was starting to think about results day

more and more so it’s finally good to see what we’ve got.”

Lucy Guy achieved all As and A*s. She said: ““I have no idea

how I managed that, I’ve surprised myself because I was ill during some of the

exams so I’m really happy with my grades.

“I’m going to go out tonight with my friends and we’re all

going to have a really happy night.”

Another high achiever was Beth Powell who got an A*, 8As and

a B. She added: ““It’s amazing and I’m really pleased and relieved. I’m glad

it’s all over and I can concentrate on college now.

“I wasn’t worried about not going to college, but I wanted

to know if I had got the grades for the subjects I wanted to do.”

And Ami Wyllie was just pleased to have got the grade she

needed to enable her to get into Richard Huish College: “I got a C in maths

which is better than anything. I don’t care about the rest because I have my C

in maths which means I can go to the college I want to.

“I can’t wait to tell everyone. I’m going to phone my mum

straight away.”

The school has seen four years of successive rises in its

pass rates. Headteacher Andrew Lovett put that down to a change of culture. He

said: “I think it has taken time as it’s not about a quick fix to keep

improving, but raising the expectation a changing of the culture.

“There’s an awful lot of people here working hard together,

and a lot of things are coming together and paying off with improving results.

“I don’t think that school days are the best days of their

lives, I think they’ve all got the best to come ahead of them and I hope we’ve

given them a firm foundation so that they can achieve all that they want to.”

The school recently learnt that its new building wouldn’t be

built due to government cutbacks, but Andrew added that there was no reason why

that setback would hold the school back. He added: “We’re now going to

concentrate on our next year group coming through and we see no reason why they

can’t improve again. We are going to offer some new courses coming through.”

It wasn’t just an emotional day for students as teachers

were able to say goodbye to their students for one last time.

Jon Sowden who teaches drama and science said: “We’ve been

saying our goodbyes to the pupils for several months now, but they just keep

coming back for more.  It’s an emotional

day, and it’s good to see the students go on to the next stage of their career

and lots of them will keep in touch with us.

“It’s a highlight of the year. It’s a brilliant feeling to

see all these smiling faces and I wouldn’t miss it for the world, and worth

giving up your holiday for.”

His colleague Nick Lineham added: “I think in my subject

drama, they’ve all got what they deserved in all senses of the word which is

nice. They engage with the subject and interact with each other and those who

can do that have done very well.

“Results day is always a little bit of a nervous thing, but

generally they tend to get what they deserve, with a few happy surprises as

well.”