PUPILS at St James's High School in Farnworth were delighted to receive some outstanding results after a challenging 18 months.

Headteacher Catherine Anderson praised the pupils for their hard work during the pandemic.

She said:"We are incredibly proud of all of our Year 11 students.

"The last 18 months have been incredibly challenging but our young people have not given up and have shown grit and resilience, remaining focused on their studies throughout.

"They have had outstanding support from their teachers here at St James’s and from their families.

"Consequently, they have achieved the excellent results that they have worked for and truly deserve.

"The year group as a whole have remained ambitious, dedicated and extremely positive throughout all of the disruption.

"They are an inspirational group of young people and we look forward to seeing what they will achieve in the future. We wish them the very best."

Pania Ghandehari achieved an impressive straight 9s and said: "I feel relieved and quite happy, obviously its been harder than we expected. But I feel like the opportunities gave us a chance to rise up and try as hard as we can to get our best.

"I want to go to Runshaw College and study something in the field of science."

Lydia Mcgann, who received three 9s, five 8s and a 6 added: "It was really hard work to get to those grades but I'm happy with them all.

"It was quite tough actually studying through the pandemic as home life if very different to school life, being in your room studying is quite hard but I'm glad it paid off.

"I'm going to Holy Cross College to study English literature, biology and chemistry, to hopefully be a neurologist."

Thelma Menkiti achieved all 8s and 9s and is hoping to study medicine in the future. She said: "I am extremely happy because I worked hard and I am grateful for my teachers for helping me as well.

"It's been hard but the support we have been given has been amazing."