A barbecue breakfast, ice-cream van & personal postcards awaited Wykham Park students as they collected best-ever GCSEs

Despite the obstacles encountered and the decision to scrap final GCSE exams because of Covid-19 in the UK, this year’s results at Wykham in Banbury are the school’s best ever.

Science grades have shown an improvement with a 20 per cent increase from last year for grades 9-4. Almost 50 per cent of students scored a Grade 5 or above for English and Maths and 68 per cent achieved GCSEs of Grade 4 and above.

Results day comes just days after exams watchdog Ofqual apologised to students and parents and announced that all A-level and GCSE results in England will be based on teacher-assessed grades.

In a U-turn, the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, announced the Government would scrap the controversial standardisation model drawn up by the exams regulator to award grades in lieu of exams.

Sylvia Thomas, Principal at Wykham Park, said the day is still very much one that should be celebrated by students. She also revealed each Year 11 student has been given a personal postcard from either a senior member of staff or a curriculum leader in their exam envelope.

Ms Thomas told the Banbury Guardian: ‘’We are really proud of our students. Our results this year are as we had hoped, as we had been predicting from the exams at the end of Year 10 that this cohort would be our best ever after last year’s record GCSE results on the campus.

‘’Science grades have continued to show improvement which builds on the upward trend we have seen over the last few years.

‘’English has maintained the excellent results we have come to expect from that department. We are also really pleased that the maths grades have shown the increase we were predicting from all three sets of mocks we ran before lockdown. The new leadership in maths should be congratulated for their hard work to achieve this.

‘’We are so looking forward to seeing the students today. They coped brilliantly with the abrupt end to their final GCSE year and we want to celebrate with them on this strangest of times.

‘’We have written personal postcards to each student which they will find when they open their exam envelope and we have booked a burger van and an ice cream van to help them celebrate their successes.’’

Ms Thomas revealed the highest performing student of the 2020 cohort at Wykham is Adam Starkie, 16, who has been awarded a string of grade 8s and 9s and said: ‘’We are very proud of his achievements and, again, they are a true reflection of his ability and work ethic. We are so pleased that he is one of a number of our students who are joining us next year in our outstanding sixth form.’’

Erin Brewer, 16, has battled with cystic fibrosis throughout her life but achieved a string of impressive results including Grade 9s in English. Ms Thomas said: ‘’We are delighted with the grades that Erin Brewer has been awarded. She has battled with cystic fibrosis throughout her life but, even during long stints in hospital, she has worked incredibly hard on her academic studies. Her Grade 9s in English are a just reward for all of her determination and resilience.’’