STUDENTS at Newton Aycliffe’s Woodham Academy have been celebrating this morning after picking up their results.

Deputy headteacher Sarah Dickinson said all the staff were incredibly proud of the students.

She said: “We’re all really, really proud. They have all worked so hard, and shown such resilience after basically starting their GCSE learning in lockdown via home learning, and then having a change to exams as well.

“It has been a privilege to take them through this journey – they have been a stand-out year group for me.”

Ream more: Live GCSE blog highlights succes of schools across the region

Heston Reid got an outstanding 11 grade 9s – the best set of results the school has ever seen - and has won a scholarship at the prestigious Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, to study maths, further maths, economics and physics.

A promising winger proved he was on the ball with his school work as he collected his GCSE results yesterday.

Charlie Lennon, of St John’s Catholic School & Sixth Form College, Bishop Auckland, gained eight GCSEs and now has his eyes on new goals.

The 16-year-old, of Spennymoor, won a scholarship with Middlesbrough Football Club’s youth academy and has also played for England U18s.

He said: “I got on really well with my teachers and am very pleased with my results. My dream remains to play football professionally and I’d love to play for Real Madrid.”

Will Lister was also thrilled with his results, particularly as he has had to overcome serious health issues. The 16-year-old was diagnosed with cancer when he was 10 and is also a chronic asthmatic.

“Because of Covid this meant I had to miss a lot of school as I was shielding,” he said. “But I had really good support from school and am staying on at sixth form to study A-levels in maths, further maths and economics.”

Jacob Cousins, of Crook, was over the moon with his grades that included 9s and 8s. He will study at the school’s sixth form with a view to becoming an engineer one day.

Kate Morgan also received a brace of 9s and 8s and is a top performer for St John’s. Other top performers included Jack Harburn, Szymon Fladro, Ben Mortimer, Evie Collyer and Chloe Dodd.

Lisa Byron, headteacher said, “We are incredibly proud of our students and their impressive results reflect individuals’ excellent commitment and determination to do well."

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Staff at King James I Academy, Bishop Auckland, would like to congratulate students on their fantastic GCSE results.

Outcomes across the range of subjects were excellent, and the school is delighted to see the continued improvement in results across the academy.

English results have built on successes in previous years, and 70 per cent of pupils have achieved at least a good pass in both Maths and English.

Results are better than in the last two academic years, which have been so disrupted due to Covid-19. Achievement continues to be excellent in Ebacc subjects, including in Geography and Modern Foreign Languages.

Students have been confirming plans for their sixth form futures at The King’s Academy after the school in Coulby Newham celebrated its best GCSEs on record.

More students than ever gained high grades with stand-out performances in English, where 80 per cent of students gained at least a grade 4 and four-fifths of these gained at least a grade 5.

In computer science, 85 per cent of students achieved at least grade 7; and 94 per cent of textiles students gained a strong pass.

Many students have chosen to stay on at the academy for sixth form after the disruption of the past two years due to the pandemic, choosing from a range of academic A-Levels and vocational courses including the new advanced professional cookery course.

Principal David Dawes said: “Having faced down the challenges of Year 9 onwards, I want to thank and say well done to our students. We are very pleased with this year’s results in what was a really difficult situation."

“We do stress to our students at this stage the importance of making a decision that helps keep their future pathways open and we will continue to support and guide many who are joining us in the sixth form, as well as those who want to come back to us.”

The King’s top student was Sasha Pickard who gained ten grade 9s, closely followed by Charlie Cobain with five grade 9s and four grade 8s.

Noah Simpson, of Coulby Newham, who gained ten GCSEs at grade 7 or higher with 9s in RE, geography, history and biology, said: “It was quite exciting opening the envelope and I didn’t expect to have done that well.”

Joshua Brough and Nicholas Sayer also achieved top results and will stay on for A-Levels at the King’s, Joshua to do maths, physics and chemistry and Nicholas to do maths, further maths, physics and computing.

Sophie Kitching, of Coulby Newham, had praise for her teachers for helping her achieve results that will take her into the sixth form to study A-Levels in biology, history and English literature en route to law. “Home learning was really difficult to get to grips with and my teachers really made it work as well as they could. I really wanted to stay on because of the teachers and everything they did for us,” she said.

Charlie Ayre, of Marton, combined revision and exams with preparation for the cadet European Championships in judo. He travelled to Croatia in June for the competition, coming seventh, which has given him a ranking within the top 40 in the world.

He gained ten GCSEs at grade 6 or higher with grade 9s in English language and business. “During the GCSEs I was training in the morning then coming into school to do my exams. It probably helped me because I felt better by the time I got to school,” he said.

Thomas Marron-Shepherd is continuing his grade 9 success in maths with an A-Level in the subject, along with product design and computer science. He said: “The academy has the best courses for me, and I already know everyone here when we come back in September.”