Schools across region report best year for GCSE results

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.

- By NICOLE GOODWIN

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

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

However, national figures show that the North East continues to have the fewest GCSE pupils getting top grades.

It has prompted calls for ministers to invest to support the poorest pupils to prevent a widening gap to London.

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 today, 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.”

Bede Academy said it celebrated an increase in overall attainment and in students achieving top GCSE grades of 7-9 across a broad range of qualifications.

Elsewhere in Northumberland, pupils were also celebrating GCSE results success. A total of 80% of students at The King Edward VI School, in Morpeth, achieved a pass (grade 4 or above) in both English and maths.