The principal of Sir Harry Smith Community College in Whittlesey has congratulated students on their GCSE results and staff for helping them achieve them.

Dawn White, Principal, said: “I would like to congratulate our year 11 students on their GCSE results this summer.

“Staff have worked extremely hard in preparing students for these new qualifications.

“With the more challenging content and different assessment regime, students have responded extremely well and I could not be prouder of their achievements.”

More than 75 per cent of Year 11 students have achieved a level 4+ in English, with 55 per cent achieving 5+ and 46 per cent achieving 5+ (equivalent to the old A*-B) in Mathematics.

The percentage of students achieving the new top grade of a 9 in English is 3.1 per cent - above the national of 2.6%.

English Literature is 4.3 per cent - above the national of 3.3 per cent and combined English/Maths is 3.1 per cent.

She added some students had worked extremely hard to achieve these results and she was particularly delighted with the following outstanding results:

Fiona Lewis 6 x A*, 1 x D*, 1 x M, 2 x A, 2 x 8, 1 x 9

Samuel Dickens 6 x A*, 1 x D*, 2 x A, 1 x 6, 1 x 7, 1 x 9

Daniella Overson 5 x A*, 1 x D*, 3 x A, 1 x 9, 1 x 8, 1 x 6

Hannah Carter 6 x A*, 1 x D*, 1 x B, 2 x 9, 1 x 8

Molly Martin 5 x A*, 1 x D*, 1 x A, 1 x B, 2 x 9, 1 x 7

Sophie Lutkin 3 x A*, 1 x D*, 4 x A, 2 x 9, 1 x 7

Roanne Causey 7 x A*, 3 x 9

She added: “I am also pleased that so many of our students have enrolled to continue their studies at Level 3 in our Sixth Form and we look forward to welcoming them back in September to continue their educational journey.”

• The new scoring system has been introduced for English literature, English language and mathematics GCSEs. It grades student’s results on a 1-9 scale, with 9 being the best grade. This system aims to allow for more differentiation between student’s results with 4 being a standard pass and 5 a stronger pass.

• The grading system has only been rolled out with English and maths for the 2017 results. In 2018, another 20 subjects will be graded at levels 1-9 with the aim that by 2019 a majority of subjects will be under this new system.