Watch as Southmoor Academy pupils celebrate their GCSE success

There were lots of smiling faces as youngsters opened their envelopes and while the final results data needs to be processed, Mrs Maw said the figures “showed an improvement on last year’s results”.

She added: “I’m so proud of the students and staff. The students have worked so hard and the staff have been amazing and we are celebrating improvement from last year in just about every measure.

“It’s also important to recognise the disruption caused to to this cohorts’ education by the Covid pandemic.

“There has been a huge amount of pastoral and academic support put in place and it has been a real pleasure to see staff and students working together.”

One of the school’s top performing pupils was 16-year-old Poppy Tomlinson who achieved an impressive 5 grade 9s, 5 grade 8s and a grade 6 as well as distinction star in BTEC Sport.

She said: “I was so nervous this morning that I couldn’t eat my breakfast. I was shaking when I opened the envelope and I didn’t expect to have done this well.

“This afternoon I’m going to celebrate with my friends and my plan is to study English language, English literature, maths and French and Southmoor Sixth Form.”

Another student who was surprised at her results was Emily Howe who attained five 8s, two 6s, and a grade 7 as well as a distinction* in BTEC Sport and a distinction in BTEC engineering.

Emily, 16, said: “I was very nervous and was shaking when I came into school. I was really shocked when I saw my results as it was better than I expected.

“I’m going to stay on at Southmoor Sixth Form to study maths, chemistry and sport.”

Madison Redhead attained an impressive three grade 8s, four grade 7s and one grade 6 as well as a distinction in BTEC Health and Social Care and BTEC Sport.

She said: “I was really nervous as I knew I needed high grades to get on my A Level courses and I was so relieved when I saw I had got what I needed.

“We are going to be heading off on holiday to Devon and I’m looking forward to telling my parents what grades I got.

“I’m going to study A Level chemistry, biology, German and psychology.”