Bury St Edmunds GCSE results: County High School, St Benedict’s Catholic School, Sybil Andrews Academy, King Edward VI School, Thurston Community College and West Suffolk College
Students in Bury St Edmunds have been celebrated for their academic efforts, but also their contributions to their school communities as they opened their GCSE results today.
County High School
At County High School, 187 students took GCSEs with 70 per cent achieving a grade 4 (standard pass) in English and maths and 45 per cent achieving a strong pass in English and maths.
Also, 20 per cent of grades were 7 or above.
Headteacher Sally Kennedy said: "I am very proud of our students who have worked hard in their studies as well as contributing so positively to school life and the positive community of our school. They have demonstrated our school values of ambition and determination in their examinations."
Of particular note, Umeno Newland, 16, of Bury, demonstrated academic excellence in securing six grade 9s alongside three grade 8s and an A in additional maths.
Umeno, known as Ume, said: “I wasn’t really nervous because I knew I tried my best, so I knew I couldn’t be upset with myself.”
She described the exams as rewarding as she had worked very hard.
She is carrying on with biology, chemistry, maths and English literature and will study at Abbeygate Sixth Form College.
“I think I would like to go into medicine. Either that or something chemistry related,” she said.
Emily Holder and Anna Williams both consistently made exceptional progress across all their subjects and achieved with nine grade 9s and 8s in addition to their contributions to school life as prefects and in their musical endeavours.
Beatrice Greer-Walker and Evie Seers also contributed throughout their time at County, enhancing school life alongside their commitment to their studies, and excelled with eight grade 9s and 8s.
Beatrice, 15, of Fornham All Saints, secured five 8s, three 9s and two 7s.
She said: “I feel really good. I didn’t want anything under 7. I was nervous about physics, but I got 8 in it.”
She is a humanities student at heart and was more nervous about science, she said, but she put a lot of effort in and worked through it.
“I managed to come out with quite good results so I’m really happy about that,” she added.
A number of school students also made exceptional progress from the point at which progress is measured in Year 6.
Mason Blake, Milly Sowerby, Amelia Collins, Annabel Ransome, Liam Brown and Ilias Zachariou all achieved in the top 5 per cent of students nationally in terms of the progress they have made during their secondary school journey.
Ms Kennedy paid tribute to these students, describing them as ‘role models to students in our community’ and added: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff who worked so hard to support every student achieve their potential and we wish all our alumnae the very best in their next steps.”
St Benedict’s Catholic School
At St Benedict’s Catholic School 161 students took GCSEs and 76 per cent achieved grade 4 or above in English and maths.
Notable academic successes included Amy John, 16, of Bury, who scored 11 9s and one 8 – she thinks she was one mark off a 9.
She said: “I’m happy with most of them. I’m quite pleased with chemistry and further maths specifically because I didn’t lose a lot of marks in them and I’m quite happy I managed a 9 in art. But I’m really annoyed about English language especially because it was just one mark.”
She is planning to study maths, further maths, computer science and English literature at A-level.
Oscar Martyn, 16, of Newmarket, achieved six 9s, five 8s and one 7 – he believes he was one mark off an 8 for English language.
“I’m very happy,” he said. “I got 9s in some subjects.”
He said for some subjects, he did a lot of revision, but for others ‘I probably should’ve done more revision’.
He is mainly opting for humanities subjects at sixth form, including French, classics and maths.
Sybil Andrews Academy
In the 144-pupil cohort at Sybil Andrews Academy, 71 per cent achieved a grade 4 or above in English and Maths, while 50 per cent achieved a grade 5 or above.
The school’s GCSE class of 2024 achieved the best results for the school in non-Covid times.
Its grade 5 figures for English and maths increased year on year by 10 per cent, while its grade 4 figures were boosted by nine per cent.
However, Joe Pointon, head of school, said the figure he was most proud of was one fifth of students averaged a grade 7 or above.
“We know that some pupils have overcome significant personal challenges in preparation for these qualifications and we are delighted that their perseverance and resilience have been rewarded,” he said.
“We’re very pleased for the pupils and grateful for the parents and their support.”
Nathan Hope, the cohort’s head of year since they started in year seven, said: “It’s a fantastic set of results. They’ve worked incredibly hard over five years, overcome some real challenges with Covid, and I’m just incredibly proud of every single one of them.”
Annabel Burden achieved five 9s, five 8s and an M2. She said: “I’m very happy - I worked extremely hard during the year but felt the exams had gone badly so I was quite anxious.
“But when I opened my results, I was jumping up and down. Sybil Andrews has been a good school - they really care and they care about mental health.”
Annabel is going on to St Benedict’s for sixth form to study the three sciences and maths.
William Matthews got six 9s and five 8s in his GCSEs. He said: “I’m pretty happy, I didn’t think I was going to do this well.” William is going on to Abbeygate Sixth Form College to study maths, further maths, physics and chemistry.
Jack Guan achieved three 9s, seven 8s and one 7 from his GCSE studies. He said: “It’s nice to do well. I’ve worked hard and mostly it’s just focusing and listening in lessons.” He is also going to Abbeygate, and will study geography, maths, further maths and biology.
Daisy Brigden achieved 7s and 8s in her GCSEs, and will be moving on to Abbeygate to study biology, geography and PE. She said: “I’m really happy - and shocked - I didn’t think I would get these results. The revision was worth it, I worked as hard as I could.
“Sybil Andrews has been good, the teachers were supportive, and Mr Hope was the best head of year.”
Cecilia Andrade also scored 7s and 8s on results day. She said: “I’m really happy and excited to go on and move on to A-levels next year.
“Sybil Andrews has been really supportive, and Mr Hope has been awesome as our head of year.”
Kevin Blakey, executive headteacher, said: “This set of results validates the good judgement received from Ofsted. We are also confident that we are on an excellent trajectory for GCSE results over the coming years.
Sybil Andrews wished all its pupils good luck on their academic and vocational courses next year.
Thurston Community College
Pupils from Thurston Community College, in the nearby village of Thurston, have collected their GCSE results this morning, with 65 per cent achieving grades 4 - 9 in English and Maths.
Maéve Taylor, school principal, said: “Not only have they performed strongly academically but contributed to the wider community of the school in winning sports teams, showcasing drama, music and dance talents as well as establishing a legacy for student leadership over the coming years.”
Jason Horne, vice principal, said: “Year 11 is a really positive year group, they’ve had to deal with the various trials of Covid and have been really resilient.
“It’s a really important day for them and hopefully there will be a lot of celebrations.”
Among the 265 pupils collecting results was James Bouttell,16, of Pakenham.
James achieved 12 grade 9s and is heading to Cambridge Maths School to study for his A-levels and continue studying his favourite subject.
Collecting his results alongside his mum, James said: “I am very relieved my results were the same as in my mocks but I wasn’t sure I would get the same so I am very happy.”
James Morris, 16, of Elmswell, was another pupil celebrating his results after balancing his studies with running the school’s student news publication.
After opening his results, James said he was proud of all of his achievements and was particularly pleased with his 9s in English language, English literature and history and 8s in Spanish and French.
James, who is now going to study for his A-levels at Thurston Sixth, said: “Working on student news has given me writing skills and helped with my confidence.”
Sixteen-year-old Rory Merritt, of Thetford, collected her results alongside her parents.
Rory, who achieved six grade 9s, two grade 8s and four grade 7s said: “It felt nice to be able to share my results with them as they’ve been really supportive.
“It has been a nerve wracking wait in between taking the exams and collecting the results.”
Rory will now head to Abbeygate Sixth Form College to study for her A-levels.
King Edward VI School
Staff at King Edward VI have been celebrating with their Year 11 students, who have been praised for attaining ‘impressive’ results in their GCSEs.
A total of 228 pupils in the Bury St Edmunds school took their exams this year, with 66 per cent achieving grade 4 or above in English and maths.
Thirty per cent were also awarded grade 6 or above.
The school’s top achiever was Elodie Barnard, 16, whose results tally included seven grade 9s, two grade 8s and one 7. She said she was really happy with her results.
“I didn’t really know what to expect,” she said. “I looked at my results and got quite emotional.”
Elodie, who will be off to do her A-Levels at Abbeygate Sixth Form College next month, hopes she can study architecture in the future.
Meanwhile, another pupil who was proud of her achievements was Matilda Miller, of Culford. She attained eight grades from 7 to 9, with two 9s, two 8s and four 7s.
“I feel very relieved that I don’t have to do it again,” she said. “A couple of them (the grades) were a bit lower than what I expected, but I was a bit ill during exam season.
“There was a bug going around and all my friends got it and then it passed onto me so it was quite challenging.”
Matilda was praised by headteacher Deri O’Regan for making the biggest amount of progress among her peers since she started her GCSE journey in year 10.
When asked how she felt about that, Matilda said: “I wasn’t really a top achiever.
“I struggled a lot with anxiety, but the support I received from the teachers has helped to get through that.
“I think when I cared more, I ended up doing worse, so when I relaxed, I was able to do better.”
Matilda will also be going to Abbeygate Sixth Form to study maths, economics, English and politics.
She added she does not have future plans after her A-levels and she picked varied subjects to help keep her options open.
It was an emotional morning for Tommy Parfitt, 16, of Moreton Hall, who needed to pass maths and English to be able to study electronic music production at West Suffolk College.
He said he was jumping from happiness after opening up his envelope because he even managed to pass science – something he was not expecting. He achieved grade four in all three of the subjects.
“It’s a massive feat for me,” he said. “In year 9, I was getting 1s and Us in everything and I managed to climb in English, maths and even science, which is what I needed for my college application.
“I was scared thinking I didn’t do well. I also got injured in the middle of my exams, so that was challenging because I was in a lot of pain.”
He said the results were a tribute to his dad, who died in 2016. He was in a famous rock band Status Quo.
Tommy plans to carry on his dad's legacy.
“I just wanted to make him proud,” he added. “I’m just carrying on his legacy. Music is what I always wanted to do and I will.”
Headteacher Deri O’Regan said he was exceptionally proud of all the students who worked really hard to make strong progress across their subjects.
He added: “We believe that everyone of our students has a bright future ahead of them next year.
“The achievements of our students are all the more impressive as this cohort have had to put up with significant challenges during their five years at secondary school.
“We’re proud of the students who have overcome mental health challenges, for example, and look forward to them going from strength to strength as they move onward in their education.”
West Suffolk College
Across Eastern Education Group, which includes West Suffolk College in Bury, a total of 212 gained a level four or above in English this academic year and 140 did the same in maths.
Juliet Gadsdon, 62, from Bury, studied GCSE maths at the Personal and Professional Development Centre, which is part of West Suffolk College, and achieved a grade 7.
Juliet said: “I’m very pleased. I didn’t need to take GCSE maths as such, but I’d lost my O-level certificates, so I came to West Suffolk College to take Functional skills maths. I got the qualification I needed, but I enjoyed the experience of learning maths and training my brain so much, that I continued to GCSE.
“I never thought I’d be able to get to grips with it. But I’ve enjoyed the course and the teaching has been brilliant, so it’s become a bit of a hobby for me. I love that it’s developing my mind. It’s good for you to learn new things, no matter your age.
“Now, I want to study AS-level maths, and then A-level. I don’t have the pressure that you have in school to get certain grades, I can just continue learning because I enjoy it.”
Polly Spurr, 40, from Norton, near Bury, studied GCSE maths and biology at the Personal and Professional Development Centre and gained a grade 5 in both – the highest grade she could have achieved.
Her son, Stanley, also achieved a grade 5 in maths and science (at Thurston), and the pair couldn’t be prouder.
Polly said: “I’m really, really, really, really pleased with my results, I can’t believe it! In September, I’m starting my new role as a maths teacher, and alongside this I’ll be undertaking a teacher training course with West Suffolk College.
“Before, I was working at a leisure centre and a restaurant. These roles were then affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and I wanted to change careers. I finished studying BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies with University Studies at West Suffolk College last year, where I also got a Grade 6 in GCSE English, and now I’ve got my maths and biology, too, so I can start my teacher training.
“Learning here has been so different to when I was at school. I definitely recommend it, I’ve had amazing experiences in all the courses I’ve studied here, and I can’t wait to continue with my teacher training.
“Thank you to all the teachers for your support.”
Steven Clark, 30, from Bury, studied GCSE English language at the Personal and Professional Development Centre and achieved a grade 7.
His next goal is to go to university in Liverpool to continue his learning.
Steven said: “I needed a grade 4 for university, so to almost double it and achieve grade 7 is fantastic. When I was 16 at school, I got a D, and I didn’t want it to hold me back.
“Now, I can study my chosen university course in biology and infectious diseases in Liverpool. This is a huge accomplishment for me. Everyone has been so friendly and helpful.”
GCSE reporting by: Suzanne Day, Mariam Ghaemi, Martyna Wiecha and Ross Waldron.
