GCSE results day: John Ferneley College

Headteacher Terry Claridge, who arrived in the post in April, talked about his pride at the achievements of students as they collected their results this morning (Thursday).

Mr Claridge said: “Although we wait for final confirmation of the figures in the coming days, I am delighted that as a school we have increased our attainment and progress results from last year, with significantly higher numbers of grades seven to nine and increased attainment across core, open and Ebacc subject areas.

This year’s GCSE exam students had to cope with being confined to home at the start of their studies due to the Covid pandemic.

Despite this, Mr Claridge said there were some ‘outstanding individual performances’.

He added: “As I have always said to students, it is about opening that envelope and knowing that the grades they have received represent the best of their efforts and abilities.

"The most important aspect of all is that we see our students move on to the next level of their educational or vocational journey with the foundation in place for success.”

One of best achieving students at John Ferneley this year was Maisie Funnell who attained seven top level grade nines, a distinction star and an 8 in her exams.

Maisie said she ‘worked very hard’ for her exams and she was ‘very excited’ opening her envelope to see such high grades.

She will now study A-levels, including computer science and maths, at MV16.

Lucy Donaghey was delighted to see two grade nines and a few 8s on her results slip.

"It was very scary waiting for my results this morning but I’m very happy with the grades,” said Lucy, who will now study A-levels at Harington School in Rutland.

Cameron Pearson was pleased to see lots of nines and eights in his GCSE results and has career plans in the finance or economics sector.

He praised his teachers, adding: “The teachers are friendly and very kind and they don’t overload you with homework.”