Church High girls celebrate another year of top class GCSE results
22 Aug 2013
Pupils from leading independent girls’ school, Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School, are today celebrating after achieving another set of fantastic GCSE results. With 60 per cent of all grades achieved at A*-A level, almost half of all the girls also achieved seven or more A* and A grades.
Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of all grades achieved were at the highest A* level and Church High girls have once again demonstrated that they are amongst the highest academic achievers in the country, smashing the national average of 6.8 per cent of grades at this top level.
As part of the overall success achieved by Church High School, a number of girls are today celebrating personal achievements, including an outstanding performance from Washington based, Anna Glover, 16, who achieved an incredible 10 A* grades.
Following in her sister Julia’s footsteps, who herself three years ago scooped an astonishing 11 A*s, Anna will now go on to study her A Levels at Church High. Speaking on the day, Anna said: “I’m feeling great, I was so nervous beforehand but my family reassured me that I would be fine and I’m just so happy with what I’ve achieved! I’ll be staying on with Church High to study my A Levels and I’m so excited for the future. I’m taking RS, geography, psychology and either English or Spanish onto A Level, so there’s a good mix which will help me with my future career. I’m hoping to possibly become a journalist one day and I’m over the moon that this is a first step toward that.
“My sister is a huge inspiration to me and seeing how well she did just a few years ago, I’m just delighted that I’m here today celebrating too! The exams were also really tough and I’m shocked and surprised that I’ve done so well – I’ll be celebrating this evening with my friends, we’re all going to go out for a meal together.”
Another high achiever was Alnwick based, Susanna Ferguson, 16, who today picked up an impressive six A*s, four A grades and one B. Susanna, said: “I’m so happy, I really didn’t think I’d achieve such great results. I was really nervous before today and couldn’t sleep properly last night but now it’s all over and I can look forward to a very exciting future! For my A Levels, I really wanted to take a wide selection of subjects as I’m not sure exactly what I want to do for my career yet. I decided to take English, history, RS and biology, which will hopefully give me a really wide range.”
Talented Annabelle Warwick, 16, from Gosforth, is another Church High pupil celebrating today. With a fantastic three A*, five A and two B grades, Annabelle is now looking forward to studying biology , psychology, geography and theatre studies for her A Levels. Speaking on the day, she said: “I’m absolutely over the moon with my results, I really wasn’t expecting it and just couldn’t believe it when I opened my envelope! I had a nightmare that I got much worse results so I was pretty worried beforehand. All my friends have done really well too and we’re all going to be celebrating together today.
“I’ve always loved acting and I have been heavily involved in Stagecoach for many years, as well as many of the great productions at Church High. I really want to continue with drama and that’s why I decided to study theatre studies as one of my A Level subjects.”
Sporty Emma Stephenson, 16, from Darras Hall, achieved six A*’s, three A’s and one B grade in her GCSEs. An A* in Mathematics and Spanish along with her A’s in science were her best accomplishments, she said: “I was up all night worried about my science results, it’s not my strongest subject and I thought I may have failed so to get three A’s just makes me so relieved. I’m staying here at Church High to do my A-levels in mathematics, Spanish, geography and politics, I do a lot of sports at the school so I didn’t want to leave it all behind yet. I found politics really interesting so I decided to try it out, my other three A-level choices are my favourite subjects and I can’t wait to get started.”
This year’s GCSE success is all the more special in light of the announcement that Church High will merge with nearby leading girls’ school, Central High, in September 2014. Building on the success that both schools continually achieve, the two will join together to form the region’s leading girls’ school – Newcastle High School for Girls – and shape the future of girls’ education.
Speaking on the day, Church High head teacher, Joy Gatenby, said: “Once again, we are thrilled with the outstanding GCSE results our girls have achieved this year – they should be absolutely delighted.
“GCSE results day is always such a nerve-wracking time, as a significant milestone in a young person’s life, today marks the next step toward an exciting future for each of our girls. These excellent results represent immense hard work by our students and the whole school community and I’m so proud of their achievements.
“The fact that Church High results remain so consistently high year-on-year is testament to the dedication of our wonderful team of teaching staff who are so supportive of our girls in every aspect of their school lives. I would like to thank everyone who is part of our school for their valued support and commitment in helping our girls achieve such outstanding results.
“I would also like to extend my congratulations to all at Central High who today also achieved a fantastic set of GCSE results. Our two schools have so much to look forward to as they prepare to come together and both Church High and Central High pupils can start their A Level courses and other paths with confidence and the knowledge that they have a wonderful grounding. All of our girls have a very bright future ahead of them and I’m so happy to be able to celebrate with them all today.”