The hard work pays off

It was GCSE results day, a day they have spent the past five years working towards.

Phil Grady, the headteacher of Bury CE High School, said: "I am very pleased with the results achieved by the year group, who represent a much wider range of ability than usual. Their success reflects great credit on the pupils themselves, on their teachers and on their parents.

"We are also delighted with the success of our Y10 pupils who took GCSE Religious Education a year early and who all attained grades A*-C."

At Bury Grammar School (Girls) more than one third of the year group achieved a clean sweep of A grades in all of their subjects. The pass rate at grade C and above was 97 per cent and the A*/A pass rate was 63 per cent.

Four students gained all ten of their subjects at A*. They are Rosalind Joseph of Greenview Drive, Bamford, Jenny Tsim of Willow Street, Bury, Natalie Turner of Sunnywood Drive, Bury and Julia Riggs of Springside Road, Bury.

Headteacher Bobby Georghiou, said: "Not only have these girls achieved the highest possible grades, but they have all also continued to be involved in extra curricular activities in and outside school. For example, Jenny is an accomplished pianist and composes her own pieces while Natalie has contributed to the work of the WRVS by assisting with their meals on wheels service."

Over at Bury Grammar School (Boys) 92.8 per cent of pupils got grades of C or above. There were 101 A* grades and 216 A grades.

The top performers were James Forsyth, Lance Rane and William Webster who each got ten A*s.

Although Coney Green High School was still awaiting its ICT results at the time of going to press, headteacher Diana Morton was still delighted with her school's performance.

"We have had very pleasing results this year which underline the hard work and effort of all the staff and pupils, and the support from parents," she said.

Derby High School is celebrating after a number of individuals obtained outstanding results.

Three students, Stuart McCall, Abdul Bari and Matthew Taylor, each achieved nine or more passes all at A* and A grade.

Fifteen pupils in year 10 took their maths GCSE one year early and all achieved excellent grades. Two pupils, Amna Aftab and Aaisaha Rasool, capped their pleasing GCSE results by each achieving A levels at good grades in Urdu.

For the second year running all pupils at Elms Bank Community High Special School who studied ICT gained Level 3 distinctions at Entry Level.

And for the first time ever, two pupils gained three GCSE passes plus five or more Entry Levels. They are Sarah Hilton and Alan McKenna.

Headteacher Lynn Lines said: "I wish to congratulate all successful pupils and the staff for their excellent achievements."

Eight pupils were entered for GCSE Mathematics, Art and Food Studies and there was a 100 per cent pass rate at A*-G. The school also saw 15 pupils entered for between one and eight Entry Levels and all of them gained at least one pass and most gained five or more.

Headteacher of Elton High School Mr Neil Scuton said: "This is another tremendous set of GCSE results for our pupils. I am delighted that the very hard work of our pupils and staff and the support given by our parents has been recognised in this way."

Manchester Jewish Grammar School in Prestwich had a top-performing pupil in Joel Kahan of Upper Park Road who achieved 10A* and one A grade.

Headteacher Mr Phaivish Pink said: "We are delighted with the results of all our boys who worked extremely hard to achieve their successes and it should not be forgotten that four mornings a week are devoted to Jewish Studies."

Parrenthorn High School was happy to beat the national average with 56.2 per cent of its pupils gaining 5 A* to C grades.

Headteacher Arthur Francis said: "The boys are only half a per cent behind the girls so I am pleased they are closing the gap. Our results are not necessarily as good as last year but in relation to the level of ability in the year group, they have done well. They are a credible set of results." Two of the top performing boys are Steven Baldwin with five A* and four A's and John Mackey with two A* and six A grades.

Pupils at Philips High School who sat examinations in English, English Literature, Mathematics, ICT, History, PE and the Arts all scored well above the national averages.

Headteacher Mr Chris Trees said: "Overall our results are in line with expectation and contrary to the national trend we have made an improvement in our overall A*-G passes."

The school had a number of noteworthy pupils. Sarah Quigley attained one of the top five marks in the country in Social Science. Claire Riley achieved three A* and 7 As, Beth Stallman got 4 A* and 5 As and Marianne Howard got 5 A* and 4 As.

Prestwich Community High School has successfully increased its overall pass rate and one of its star pupils gained A grades in all 11 subjects, four of which were A*s.

Radcliffe High School saw an eight per cent improvement on last year of the number of pupils gaining five A*-C grades. A total of 95 per cent of pupils gained five or more A*-G grades and all pupils entered gained at least one A*-G grade.

Associate headteacher Alan Smith said: "These pleasing results reflect the hard work of the pupils, staff and parents."

Eddie Robinson, headteacher of St Gabriel's RC High School described its results as "another outstanding success story". Thirteen pupils achieved all A* and A grades in all their subjects.

Mr Robinson added: "We celebrate the success of all our pupils who worked hard and deserve recognition for their efforts."

St Monica's RC High School has broken all records this year with their results. 100 per cent of students achieved five or more A* - G with 79 per cent gaining five or more A* - C grades beating last year's total by six per cent.

Both boys (82 per cent) and girls (75 per cent) achieved record scores of A* - C and the top student was Daniel Minett with 11 A* grades while nine pupils achieved more than nine A* or A grades. Twenty pupils took some exams up to three years early and 12-year-old Andrew England wowed his teachers by gaining an A* in statistics.

Tottington High School has produced three exceptionally well-read pupils. Samantha Edwards, Daniel Hitchlock and Hannah Cherry Ingram were three of the top five pupils in the entire country who sat the English Literature examination. This means they beat 379, 012 other candidates!

Headteacher Alan Scott said: "I am very pleased with the year's GCSE results. The 62 per cent pass rate at 5 A*-C grade is a credit to staff and students at the school."