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Pupils across the area have been celebrating after another
record year of GCSE results.

At Homewood School in Tenterden students have exceeded last
year’s GCSE exam results.

Within minutes of the school’s sports hall throwing open its
doors to students keen to get handed their results, Homewood
reported a provisional figure of almost 70 per cent of students
achieving at least five A* to C grades.

According to the school, the 337 Year 11 students have been
studying more than 30 courses including GCSE and BTEC.

The percentage achieving the benchmark standard of five A* to C
including English and maths has risen by three per cent from 38 per
cent last year to 41 per cent.

Some Year 10 students, who took some or all of their exams a
year earlier than others, celebrated high levels of success.

These students will now enter the vertical curriculum to either
complete their key stage 4 programme, take courses at Level 2 or
start Level 3 courses at A Level.

William Cotterell, principal, said: “We are really pleased with
the results this year. Students have exceeded expectations and they
are to be congratulated.

“What this group of students has achieved is outstanding and a real
testament to their efforts, the support of parents and the hard
work of all my staff.”

He added: “Following on from their tremendous success of last
week’s A Level results, it is clear that the curriculum
opportunities we now offer at Homewood allows students to pursue
their interests and have great success across a huge range of
subjects and I am very proud of their commitment to learning.”

Pupils at Ashford's Christ Church School celebrate their
results

Another successful year in GCSEs has
provided a hat-trick for Christ Church School.

The achievement comes after it passed
an Ofsted inspection and successfully bid for specialist school
status in maths and computing.

This year 38 per cent of Year 11
pupils taking GCSE at the Kingsnorth school achieved five A* to C
grades, up 3 per cent from last year.

Meanwhile 23 per cent gained five A*
to Cs with English and maths, a rise of 2 per cent on last
summer.

Head teacher Catherine Barber said:
“Alongside our satisfactory Ofsted inspection and a successful bid
for specialist school status this makes it a hat-trick year for
Christ Church.”

Subjects such as BTEC sport,
performing arts and ICT all produced a 100 per cent pass rate at A*
to C and a total 17 subjects improved their performance on last
year’s results.

Ashford's Towers School has had a
seventh successive year of improvement with 94 per cent of students
now achieving five A* to G grades.

The school in Kennington has also
seen almost 60 per cent of its GCSE candidates, a total 131,
achieving five A* to C grades.

Head teacher Malcolm Ramsey said:
“This has been a bumper year for our results and the best ever
achieved.”

Outstanding performers included
Briony Jones who gained an A*, seven As and two Bs.

Lucy Jordan earned five As, six Bs
and one C and Lucy Wraxall achieved three As and eight Bs.

There were plenty of pleased pupils
tearing open their brown envelopes at The North School,
Ashford.

It was the best year for results
ever with the overall number of students gaining A to C grades
increased by 10 per cent on last year.

More than 98 per cent of students
achieved or exceeded their grades including head boy Michael
Gill.

Michael said: "I am very pleased
with my results and I would like to thank all the teachers who have
helped me achieve them. I am now going to take
A-levels."

Head teacher Lesley Ellis was proud
of both her students and her staff.

She said: "I am delighted with our
results. Yet again our students have produced significant
improvements to previous years.

"I am very proud of
them, around 50 per cent have special needs, so for some of
them here they have made tremendous progress.

"I am also very proud of our
teaching staff, they have worked extremely hard to create a 10 per
cent increase on results which last year were also very
good."

There were outstanding results
at the Norton Knatchbull Grammar School, Ashford, with a
swathe of A* grades.

It was the best year of results
ever for the school with virtually all students achieving A* to C
grades.

Star pupil Josh Parton picked
up 10 A* grades while Jospeh Jolley and Daniel Pentland were
among pupils who achieved 9 A* grades.

Head teacher John Speller
congratulated his pupils.

He said: "It has been a pleasure to
work with this year group and they are now well positioned to move
forward into the next stage of their careers. Congratulations
to them and also to their teachers."

Highworth Grammar School kept up a
consistently high standards, with 51 per cent of its GCSE grades
being A or A*.

Paul Danielsen , head teacher
at the Ashford school, said: “The students have done fantastically
well and the results have followed other years, which have also
been outstanding.”

Mr Danielsen said that grades continued to improve in schools, not
because exams were easier but because the standard of teaching has
risen.

“He said: “I believed that this has happened nationwide over the
last 10 years and when I observe lessons in my own schools the
quality of teaching is high.”

Among the pupils getting good grades was Grace Aran who gained
three A*s, seven As and one B.

She said: “I didn’t think I would get these results but I think
everyone is pessimistic about their grades.”

Emma Clay got six A*s, three As and two Bs. She said: “I am really
happy and surprised. I even got an A* in geography, which I didn’t
expect because it isn’t my strongest subject.”

Alex Browne wept with joy and
disbelief when she discovered she was one of her school’s top five
students.

The Ashford School pupil discovered she was one of only five GCSE
students who gained a total 12 A* and A grades.

Alex, who said; “My mum was also crying when she got the
results. I really didn’t think I would do it.

“The night before I was texting people saying I couldn’t sleep for
worrying about my results.”

Emma Lavelle was also shocked when she discovered she achieved a
stunning six A*s and 5As.

She said; “What really surprised me was that I got these grades in
science and maths because they are my weakers subjects.”

Hanna Pinney also gained eight A*s and three As.

She said: “I’m really pleased. My teachers said I would do it and
all that hard work has paid off.

Erin Abraham gained four A*s, six As and a B and said she was
quietly confident she would get good grades, largely because of the
quality of the teaching.

She said: “The teaching and facilities are really good here and
that has definitely helped in our success. The teachers prepare you
well.”

Ashford School says that nearly 60 per cent of all the exams taken
were awarded the A* and A grades with all but one student gaining
five GCSEs at A*- C.

These pupils were the last all-girls year as the school reaches the
completion of its phasing in into a full co-educational
school.

Head teacher Mike Buchanan said: “Once again the pupils have done
exceptionally well.

“It is particularly pleasing to see pupils aof all abilities living
up to their potential and in many cases exceeding our already
high expectations of them.”

Delight at results across Kent was
expressed Cllr Sarah Hohler, who was visiting Brockhill Park
Performing Arts College at Hythe.

“Some schools have been very successful and one or two have shown
great improvement,” said the county council cabinet member for
children, families and education.

At Brockhill Park, 65 per cent of students gained five A* to C
grades and the school beat the Government’s target of 30 per cent A
to C at English and maths.

“These are excellent results,” said principal Sonette
Schwartz.

At Folkestone Academy a delighted principal Sean Heslop
congratulated his students on doubling the number getting five A*
to C grades from 34 per cent to 63 per cent.

“It is brilliant and better than we expected,” he said.

Student Cade Mortimer hit back at critics who say the rise in
pass rate means exams are getting easier.

“We worked very hard,” he said. “I do not think the critics
appreciate that.”

The best results ever for the third
year running were achieved at Pent Valley Technology College,
Folkestone, with 50 students gaining 10 or more GCSEs at the
highest grades.

Head Teacher Mario Citro said: “The
rate of improvement this year has been fantastic and this is credit
to all the hard work from staff and students."

Harvey Grammar School for Boys,
Folkestone, is also celebrating its best ever results
with 95 per cent of students gaining five A* to C grades.

Principal Bill Wright
said: “It is wonderful to see the hard work and dedication of
all our learners and their teachers rewarded with such a fantastic
performance."

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