Pupils celebrate as some schools report 'best year'

GCSE pupils across the North East received their results yesterday, with a number of the region’s schools reporting their most successful year for top grades.

- NICOLE GOODWIN

Kenton School and Jesmond Park Academy in Newcastle were among the schools celebrating the achievement.

Meanwhile, Grace College in Gateshead also reported the best ever GCSE results in its history, with the number of top grades tripling this year.

Education minister Catherine McKinnell, who is also Labour MP for Newcastle North, was at Bede Academy, in Blyth, as pupils received their GCSE results.

The school became one of the first in the region to offer T-level courses, first in engineering and now also in health.

A T-level is a technical qualification designed to be equivalent to three A-levels. And after receiving three 6s, four 5s, one 4 and a double distinction* in her GCSEs, Bede Academy student Ella Robinson secured a place on the academy's T-level in health.

Ella said: “I got all my target grades so I’m happy. The T-level secures me an interview with Northumbria University to go on to do neonatal nursing, which is my passion.”