STUDENTS across the district reached an education milestone last Thursday when they collected their GCSE results.

Amery Hill School headteacher Elizabeth Wylie praised her students for their efforts.

“We are delighted with the results achieved by our students this year. It’s a true reflection of the hard work and effort put in by both the students and the staff that have worked alongside them,” she said.

“We are particularly pleased with the rise in the number of students who obtained more than five A*-C grades, including English and maths, which has risen by 10 per cent this year to 74 per cent.

“Both our English and maths departments have done very well, helping students gain the all important basic subjects, with 83 per cent passing their English and 80 per cent also awarded a pass grade in maths.

“In line with the new government expectations and measures, we have also seen a healthy rise in the number of students achieving the Ebacc suite of qualifications, with 40 per cent of students gaining an A*-C pass in English, maths, science, a humanities subject, and a foreign language.”

Mrs Wylie continued: “There are individuals who have surpassed their targets in so many different ranges of abilities. We value every grade reached by our students, because it is all relative to their own progress. Some particular outstanding results include Alexandra Judkins and Joanna Vines who achieved 12 GCSEs, all at A* grade.

“Also, Seren Irwin achieved 10 A*, one A and one B grade and Dan Stoller nine A* and three A grades. Our ethos of education for life is reflected in these results showing what is possible for students at Amery Hill School.

“I would like to congratulate all our students for these results and wish them good luck in their future endeavours.”

Perins School in Alresford is celebrating another year of “fantastic” exam results, demonstrating once again that the students “are among the best”.

In a year of changes to performance measures, the students performed “exceptionally well” with English achieving 86 per cent A*-C, with 37 per cent of the entry gaining A* or A grades and maths attaining similar success with 25 per cent of all grades at A* or A.

Science results were also notably high, including 100 per cent A*-C in physics and more than 97 per cent A*-C in both biology and chemistry.

Headteacher Steve Jones said: “The students have demonstrated in these outstanding results that Perins is an exceptional learning establishment.

Across the country, schools are seeing changes to performance measures as well as curriculum and grading systems. Our staff and students have embraced these changes, and indicators point to extremely positive progress measures when they are published later in the year.

“As well as increasing the school’s strength in the core subjects, the students have demonstrated their broader abilities with exceptional achievements in enrichment subject. I am immensely proud of every single student and members of staff, as I know the many hours of work that they all put into achieving these exceptional results.”

Top performers this year are Rachel Wood, Ellie Mills, Jane Blackbourn, India Dickinson, Joseph Egelstaff, Ella Vincent, Ben Anderson, Darnesh Dadgostar and Tom Lock, who all gained A* and A grades in all 10 of their GCSE subjects.

The foundation subjects achieved “excellent successes”, including pass rates of 100 per cent in textiles and 98 per cent in drama.

The sciences achieved “outstanding pass rates” of 100 per cent in physics, 97 per cent in chemistry, and 97 per cent in biology.

Students at Eggar’s School have achieved their best ever set of GCSE results this year, with 76 per cent achieving A*-C in English and maths.

The English and maths results themselves were “again outstanding” with English achieving 85 per cent and maths 83 per cent A*-C, with a third of all students achieving A*-A.

Headteacher Patrick Sullivan said: “We are thrilled with these results, they are a reflection of the total commitment by the staff and students and will place us significantly above national results.

“The year 11 students worked really hard and this is a reward for that commitment. Results in English and maths were outstanding, as were results in the foundation subjects.

These were either in line with or above national results, with most way above. This includes French achieving 97 per cent, music 85 per cent, Spanish and graphics 83 per cent, resistant materials and PE 80 per cent A*-C, statistics 100 per cent A*-C and 82 per cent A*-A, geography 79 per cent, and history and ICT 73 per cent.

“Among the top performers were Louis Kennett, Roman Shkunov, Edward Linton, Mishca Gandhi, Adam Bannister, Elliot Milner, Anshu Pandey, Kieran Becker Davies, Lucy Steadman, Holly Cove, Holly Dowds, Neelesh Prasad, Loius San Pedro, Bethany Garrett, Abigail Jinks and Alice Mealing, all of whom gained fantastic results with seven or more A*-A grades in their result sets, which are exceptional achievements,” said Mr Sullivan.

“Staff have worked unbelievably hard as a team, during a period of so many government changes and funding restrictions, but their tremendous commitment has made the difference for so many of our students, who have put outstanding effort into their work to achieve these fantastic results. We are both delighted and hugely proud of them.”

Shouts and laughs of delight resounded at Alton Convent School as year 11 pupils received their “outstanding GCSE results”.

In a year when nationally GCSE results appear to have slipped, Alton Convent School is proud of the fact that 54 per cent of students gained A*-A grades and that 80 per cent achieved A*-B.

Staff said special congratulations should go to Hannah Croutear, Emma Holford, Beth Hughes, Lucy Jermyn, Florence Lappin, Kiera Leather, Bethany Magennis-Prior, Lucy O’Herlihy, Lucy Rawlings, Lauren Shea, Katie Slape, Eleanor Taylor and Emily Watson, whose 10 or 11 subjects were all graded at A* or A.

Lauren arrived on results morning with the added news that she has been awarded a prestigious Arkwright Scholarship, the aim of which is to nurture the country’s future leaders of the engineering profession.

Year 10 have taken religious studies a year early and the results suggest next year’s full GCSE results will be “equally spectacular”. Scarlett Tommons achieved full marks for both papers in this exam.

“We also congratulate Charity Culley whose AS English literature exam answers have been chosen for publication on the AQA exam board website as an example of excellence,” commented Judith Fitchew, from the school.

“We are looking forward to seeing our students at the start of term for another rewarding year of academic work and exciting extra-curricular activities.”

Lord Wandsworth College pupils had much to celebrate, with 94 per cent of GCSE results graded A*-C and close to 80 per cent at A*-B, one of the best in years and narrowly missing last August’s record-breaking performance.

As headteacher Adam Williams celebrated the successes with staff and pupils alike, he was able to highlight notable achievements in physics, biology, chemistry, Latin and religious studies, with these departments scoring well over 90 per cent A*-B.

“It is a pleasure to see our pupils thriving in what are often perceived as some of the most challenging and rigorous of GCSEs,” he said. “I’m also hugely excited to see the sciences and maths, in particular, being chosen by so many in the A-Level years. The future bodes well with such strong foundations in place.

“Being able to balance such strength in the classroom with the sheer breadth of other opportunities on offer here means our sixth-form numbers are at their highest in the school’s history.”