A SECONDARY school in Cirencester has congratulated its 'lovely' and positive GCSE students who have made their families and school proud.
At 9:15am pupils lined up outside Cirencester Deer Park School to receive their results and minutes later a wave of smiles broke out and whoops of happiness echoed across the school halls.
80 per cent of Year 11 pupils attained standard passes in English, and 77 per cent of pupils attained standard passes in maths.
24 per cent of all grades awarded were the top Grades 7-9.
Commenting on the results, headteacher Richard Clutterbuck said: "As the first year group to achieve their GCSEs with me as their headteacher, I am so honoured to be a part of their achievements.
"Let us not forget the impact the pandemic had on their education from the Spring of 2020 affecting their Key Stage 3, the significant building block for GCSE success.
"As the examination performance falls back to 2019 levels nationally, the class of 2023 have achieved above the national measures of 2019 and are broadly in-line with the performance of their Deer Park peers’ results from 2019.
"The hallmarks of this year group have been their resilience, determination, and positive attitude to hard work, all the ingredients which have led to today’s achievements.
"Above all they are a collection of lovely people who are ready to move on to their next stages in life.
"Particular thanks must go to our staff who have helped in no small measures to steer our pupils towards these results from the national turmoil of March 2020.
"The skill, passion, commitment, and compassion of our staff to help this year group navigate their way to today’s successes is inspiring.
"It was lovely to see our pupils, families and staff mingling together in an atmosphere of joy and relief!"
One Year 11 student called Isabel said: "I was really nervous, but I am very happy with my results."
Similarly, Timothy said: "I am very pleased with my results - Deer Park has been a fantastic experience.
"I will miss it, but look forward to what is to come"
Head of maths Mrs Pennington said: ""It is always such a pleasure to share this day with our pupils.
"Their resilience and hard work has certainly paid off and I wish them all the best for their exiting futures."
Head of Science Dr Tipping said: "We were delighted with the pupils' science results.
"Their performance was outstanding and reflected the determination of the cohort to overcome obstacles."
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