Girls’ school celebrates top GCSE results

Durham High School for Girls, an independent school based in Durham City, continues to live up to its reputation of academic excellence, according to government performance league tables, published recently for GCSEs and A-levels.

Measures of schools’ performance at GCSE now take into account the academic subjects studied across a broad curriculum.

At Durham High School, an impressive 78% of students gained Grade 5 or above in both maths and English.

Durham High School for Girls had the largest proportion of pupils entering the English Baccalaureate scheme in County Durham and also achieved the highest average grades county-wide.

The English Baccalaureate requires pupils to take GCSEs in English language and literature, maths, the sciences, geography or history and a language and the school entered 88% of its 49 GCSE pupils into this set of exams.

The school was also at the top of the table in County Durham for Attainment 8 which measures the achievement of pupils across eight curriculum subjects.

Headmistress, Simone Niblock, is equally proud of the A-level results, with the sixth formers achieving an average grade B across all entries.

She said everyone worked very hard to achieve the results.

Ms Niblock, said: “The girls and staff worked incredibly hard – as ever – and these results are well-deserved.

“Nuclear engineering, law, medicine, fine art, acting and music are just a few of the diverse courses they have gone on to study at prestigious destinations, including Cambridge.”

Meanwhile two current students at the school, Maya Slee and Varsha Krishnan, have both just heard they have been accepted study medicine at Cambridge in October.

Ms Niblock said the people ask what the secret to the school’s success is.

She said: “We know how girls learn and we provide a stimulating environment in which they flourish - they like the fact that it’s ‘cool’ to try hard at the High School.

“Girls come to Durham High from across the region and we are proud to be the only all girls’ school in County Durham, offering a continuous education from nursery to

sixth form.”