GCSE results –Marling School celebrates another year of outstanding GCSE results

With 47 per cent of all grades at the very highest A* or A level and more than three quarters of grades at B or above, the school is delighted for its students.

There are many stories of individual success with 10 boys achieving 11 A* and A grades, and half of the boys achieving five or more A*-AS.

A further 71 per cent achieved eight or more A*-B grades and 99.2 per cent per cent of students achieved five or more A*-Cs including English and maths.

Head teacher, Dr Stuart Wilson, celebrated another successful year and said every single pupil should be proud of the marks they’d got.

“These are a fabulous set of results. The boys showed real determination and ambition throughout their GCSE years and worked so hard for these exams,” he said.

“I am delighted that their hard work has been rewarded. I would like to thank all of our staff who have worked tirelessly to support the boys in and out of lessons; they will be thrilled with the boys’ success. Well done to all.”

Some of the many stand-out pupils included Callum Ninno, 16, and Jasper Newport, also 16.

The pair have their sights set on gaining places to study at Oxbridge in a few years.

While university places are still a while off yet – the two friends have certainly made good groundwork for the challenge ahead.

Callum from Quedgeley achieved ten A*s and one A. “I’m really chuffed with my results,” he said.

“I really put a lot of effort into my revision, so it’s great to see it pay off. Of course there were some nerves this morning, but generally it was okay.

“Most of our friends got the grades they wanted too, which makes it even better.”

He is hoping to take history, politics, philosophy and ethics and maths, with a view to eventually studying PPE at Oxford.

Both he and his friend Jasper plan to stay on at Marling Sixth Form to study their A-levels.

“I was really happy with my results. I got seven A*s and four As,” said Jasper.

“I plan to study history at uni - so I will be taking politics, philosophy, politics and English Literature in September.”

A total of 120 students sat their GCSE level exams at Marling this year.

Of those exams 18 per cent were at A* grade, while 47 per cent were A*-A.

A total of 79 per cent were A*-B and 94 per cent were A*-C.

This was up a tiny bit on last year’s results – bucking the national trend of lower grades.

Well done and congratulations to our Year 11 boys who did brilliantly in their GCSE exams. All that hard work and determination paid off!

— Marling School (@MarlingSchool) August 25, 2016

Someone who understood just how tough these exam periods can be is 16-year-old pupil Dom Richardson from Chalford.

He had to take five months off school while he was suffering from glandular fever – which rendered him practically housebound for weeks at a time.

This meant he missed out on months of lessons, exam practice and expert teaching.

Despite the setbacks he managed to pull it back and get three A*s, two As, four Bs and two Cs.

“I was ill for a long time, so I really exceeded my own expectations of how well I’d do,” said the musician and band member.

“I had to do a lot of the work at home and missed a lot of lessons. I managed to do some half days in school occasionally and we got a tutor to come to the house to help me.

“But it still really affected my revision. There were some days when I was too ill to do anything.

“I felt completely drained and had no energy. I’d be fine one minute then feel incredibly tired the next minute.

“My concentration levels really suffered sometimes too and I think the stress and revision probably made it worse. It was challenging at times, but I tried not to let it affect me too much.

“Unfortunately the actual exam period was when I was at one of my worst points in the illness.

“They were really tough so I really didn’t think I’d do too well. But in the end I managed to get pretty decent grades.

“Most surprising was that I got A*s in Geography, English Language, English Literature. I definitely wasn’t expecting to do so well in those subjects.

“I was never planning to take either of the English courses at A-level, but my teacher has been trying to get me to take at least one. It’s a tough choice so we’ll have to wait and see.”

Like almost all of his school friends, he will be staying on at Marling to complete his A-levels.

Having made a full recovery, and a possible route of a degree in music tech ahead of him, Dom is looking forward to re-joining the school in September. But not before relaxing for what remains of the summer.

Another who was pleased with his results was 16-year-old Max Marson from Rodborough.

“I’m pretty content with how it went. I somehow managed to get almost all As,” he said.

“I was disappointed with a few of my languages and I got a U in additional maths – but I don’t really, care about that now,” he joked.

“I even got an A* in physics – which I was definitely surprised about. I’m staying on here next year to study business, French, maths and Spanish.”