Congratulations to all of Notley High and Braintree Sixth Form students from Year 11 2017-18, who are collecting their GCSE results today. We are delighted to see the continued improvement in the achievements made by students at the school again this year, and are particularly pleased to see so many students making such good progress from their individual starting points, at every level.

66% of students have achieved grade 4 or higher in both English and Maths GCSE, and additionally, just under 70% of all GCSE grades achieved by students were graded 4 or higher. 43% of students gained at least a grade 5 in both Maths and English. 18% of all grades achieved were 9-7 (or their previous A*- A equivalent). Additionally, 51 students achieved at least three 7s or higher (or equivalent grades such as A/A*).

The highest achiever in the year was Rebecca Moore, who achieved a brilliant clean sweep of 9s in 9 GCSE examinations, alongside an A* in Statistics. This superb set of grades places Rebecca’s academic achievements alongside those of just 732 other students across the whole country, from a cohort of over 500 000 students who sat their GCSEs this year.

With this year group having experienced the introduction of the reformed GCSE specifications, which included new and increased content and a shift away from coursework, many students, parents and carers will have been concerned about the ways the changes might impact on their results. It is therefore very pleasing to see so very many students achieve highly again this year and prove resilient in the face of this challenge. They have gained results that are a credit to them and which will provide a gateway to their chosen courses next year, whether these are academic courses, vocational choices or apprenticeships. Many thanks to parents, carers and of course teachers, support staff and tutors for all they have done to help the students to succeed.

Amongst the other very high achievers in Year 11 were:

• Abigail Grimwood who gained nine ‘9’ grades and one ‘8’;
• Chloe Oxford who gained seven ‘9’ grades and three ‘8’ grades;
• Joshua Cornwell who gained four ‘9’ grades, three ‘8’ grades, a ‘7’, an A* and a ‘5’;
• Maggie Dymoke-Bradshaw who achieved three ‘9’ grades, four ‘8’ grades, a ‘7’, ‘6’ and a B;
• Jacob Riley who achieved three ‘9’ grades, two ‘8’ grades, three ‘7’ grades, an A and a B;
• Kirsty Neilson who achieved two ‘9’ grades, four ‘8’ grades, two ‘7’ grades and two ‘6’ grades;
• Ben Truman who achieved two ‘9’ grades, three ‘8’ grades, two ‘7’ grades, a ‘6’ and two ‘5’ grades.

Well Done to all and all best wishes for the future.