Tears and celebrations as GCSE pass rate rises

The nerves were jangling and it was hugs and tears all round as the brown envelopes were opened. Faye Dickson, Ben Frampton and Jessica Best reports.

BLAENAU GWENT

Pupils in Blaenau Gwent recorded the borough's best ever GCSE pass rate, with 49.5 percent of pupils in the area getting five or more A*-C grades.

This is up by more than four percent compared to last year.

The total number of A*-C grades hit 61 percent, the first time the borough has gone past the 60 percent mark and represented a five percent jump from last year.

Youngsters at Ebbw Vale's Glyncoed Comprehensive School achieved record results with 77 percent of the youngsters getting five A*-C or better.

This was an increase of 12 percent compared to 2008.

Headteacher Colin James said: "I am very proud of both our staff and pupils for producing such high standards. The results are thoroughly deserved and make 2009 another successful year."

CAERPHILLY

Results were up slightly with 61 percent of pupils getting A*-C, up from 60 percent in 2008. Pupils getting five A*-C was also up slightly to 51 percent.

The percentage of A* and A grades stayed the same as 2008 at 16.8 percent.

Oakdale comprehensive school pupils Rachael Parry and Jack Parker celebrate their results

At Oakdale Comprehensive, the school was celebrating after 57 percent of the 115 year 11 pupils achieved A* - C grades, up 13 percent on 2008.

Deputy Headteacher Martin Davis said: "We're really pleased with the progress everyone's made which is down to a lot of hard work."

One of the teens celebrating was Jack Parker, 16, from Trinant. He got ten A* and one A and is now looking forward to studying English, French, Biology and Chemistry at A-level at Coleg Gwent's Crosskeys campus.

He said: "I never thought I'd do this well, I'm over the moon."

One youngster was celebrating getting a A* for GCSE Spanish at the tender age of 13.

Alejandra Howells, of Oakdale, took the higher paper, incorporating writing, reading, listening and oral, when she was still 12.

Both Alejandra and her mother, Katy Howells, are Spanish speakers, but the teen was not as familiar with the reading and writing so Miss Howells ordered 20 past GCSE papers and from February to May, studied them with her daughter and arranged for her to sit the paper at Cwmcarn High School through WJEC.

"I'm beaming," said Miss Howells "She burst into tears when she found out, but she's really excited."

Pontllanfraith Comprehensive was another school which improved on last year's figures, with 44 percent of pupils getting five A*-C grades.

NEWPORT

NEWPORT pupils maintained high standards with the number of pupils achieving A*-C grades was 62.6 - 1.8 percent above the Welsh national average, with A*-G grades unmoved from 2008 at 96.5 percent.

The percentage of children achieving top A*- At Caerleon Comprehensive, deputy head teacher Paul James was delighted the number of pupils achieving A*-C grades stayed at 82 percent for a second year, adding it was important to recognise the achievements of all 264 year 11 pupils.

Alexia Evans from Newport

“There’s obviously the strong youngsters who have strings of A*” said Mr James.

“But some kids might get five Cs and they have worked extremely hard to achieve that.”

Headteacher at Hartridge High School, Goff Davies, was pleased his school’s A*-C pass rate increased by four percent, and every one of the school’s 203 year 11 pupils left with at least one qualification.

Hartridge pupil Alexia Evans was reduced to tears of joy by her 1 A*, four As, two Bs and two Cs.

The Gwent Dragons under-18s player had to manage her time carefully to fit in three punishing training sessions a week as well as revision.

“There were a few tears about balancing my rugby with my homework, but obviously it’s all paid off in the end,” said Alexia, 16.

She now plans to study four A-levels at Hartridge’s sixth form and will try out for the Welsh women's under-20s rugby team later in the year.

Fellow pupil Michael Larcombe was also surprised by his five As and five Bs, but said he couldn’t celebrate for long as he had to prepare an audition for a musical theatre course at Crosskeys college today.

Bettws High School, which is due to move to a new site in October, will leave their old premises on a high after achieving their best ever results with 51 per cent of pupils achieving five grades at A*-C level - an increase of six per cent from last year.

MONMOUTHSHIRE

The number of Monmouthshire students achieving five A* to C grades increased by 1.5 percent on last year’s results to 61.5 percent.

A student who could barely speak English when he moved to Gwent from Ghana just over a year ago stole the show at Chepstow school.

Caldicot Comprehensive pupils Kate Charrett, left, and Beth Bradley

Andrew Amankwah got two As, five Bs and two C grades.

At the school, 96 percent of students achieved five or more GCSEs and six got eight or more A* and A grades.

They were Owain Banfield, Maddie Stanley and Gemma Farley, who achieved 10, Mark Ballinger who got nine and Jennie Dunnill and Sarah Trott who both got eight.

John Barnbrook, Headteacher, said: "We are very excited about these results. Well done to all our students, we are very proud of you and thank you to our talented and hard working staff."

Monmouth comprehensive school got its best ever GCSE results with 70 percent of students achieving at least five A* to C grades.

The top performers were Bethan Lloyd and Joanna Williamson, who both got eight A*s and three As.

Through a partnership with Coleg Gwent, students at the school also achieved NVQs for the first time in animal care and basic construction.

Headteacher Carole Herman said, "I am always very proud of the achievements of all our young people and this year, achievement has been outstanding across the board."

Pupils at Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls gained A* to C grades in 99.6 percent of their exams, including 73 percent at A* and A.

Boys at Monmouth School gained A* to C grades in 98 percent of their exams, including almost 64 percent at A* and A.

Haberdashers’ Hannah Sage and David Greenish, of Monmouth School both got nine A*s and an A.

TORFAEN

Almost 15 percent of pupils in Torfaen achieved A* and A grades and 98 percent achieved passes of G grade and above.

West Monmouth school pupils, front; Catherine Champion, second row; Natasha Vaughan and Emma Reeves, back row; Jack Burgess, Jason Burton and Zachariah Hazard

Ken Jones, 72, from Griffithstown, got an A grade in maths after taking an evening course. He is hoping to take an AS level in the subject next year and wants to be able to help out his granddaughters Llantarnam pupil Ellie De Rossi, 14 and Alexandria Mapps, 12, of Haberdashers with their maths studies.

Teenagers began queuing outside Pontypool’s West Monmouth School for their results at 8.45am yesterday morning- 45 minutes before the school was due to open.

Among the school’s highest achievers was head girl Lucie Phillips who got one A*, eight As and one B.

Emma Reeves, Catherine Champion, Natasha Vaughan, Zac Hazard and Jack Burgess all achieved A* and A grades.

Cariad Thomas, 15, took her GCSE maths a year early and was delighted to get an A*.

She said: "I’m a bit shocked. I was quite nervous beforehand because there’s not many people in my year getting results today."

She followed in the footsteps of her older brothers Geraint, 21, and Ieuan, 20, who both took their GCSE maths a year early at the school and gained A grades.

Across Torfaen, 58 percent of pupils got five A*-C grades.

WALES AND BACCALAUREATE

Across Wales, there were 301,047 pupils sitting GCSEs and the number if youngsters taking the Welsh Baccalaureate intermediate and foundation level qualifications nearly doubled compared to last year.

There were 2,319 pupils who completed the intermediate level, of whom 1,346 achieved the entire diploma.

In foundation, 1,414 finished the course and 910 of those got the diploma.

WJEC's total GCSE entries in Wales were 273,000 this year, representing 80% of the GCSEs offered by awarding bodies in Wales.

GCSE grades were also up slightly across Wales, with 65.5 percent of pupils getting A*-C grades, up 0.5 percent from 2008.