Bradford schools celebrate GCSE exam success

Some schools reported their best results ever in the first year of the new grading system.

The new system sees 1 to 9 replacing A* to G, with 9 the highest and 4 the equivalent to a C grade.

Across Yorkshire & the Humber, the pass rate for grades 4-9 was 63.5 per cent, up 0.3 per cent on last year, and 17 per cent of results were grade 7 and above, an increase of 0.2 per cent.

Nationally, boys also closed the pass rate gender gap on girls to 9.1 per cent.

Humaa Rauf, 16, who studies at Dixons Allerton Academy, achieved outstanding results by scoring straight 9s.

She said: “I am really happy with my results, I’m just glad to get them.

“I didn’t expect to do this well, everyone thought I would do well but I don’t think anyone expected this. I worked really hard, my mum will be really happy.

“The school and teachers have been really supportive, they put on Saturday schools and after-school study sessions for us.”

Tony Deacon proved you are never too old to learn when he picked up his 6 in History at Bradford Grammar School.

Mr Deacon, 48, left his role as caretaker at the school in June after eight years, but enrolled in History in his final year.

He said: “I was discussing it with my family, and they said you’re never too old to learn, and I’ve always been interested in history.

“I had a word with the head of History Hermione Baines and she gave me a textbook to see what I thought.

“I’m shocked, when I was at school I got all Cs and below, but the support here is unbelievable, they helped me out and I really enjoyed it.

“I’m thinking about an A Level now. I would say to anyone to go for it, there is so much support out there and you’ll never know what you can achieve without trying it.”

Guelor Kasongo celebrated his results by heading off to Accrington Stanley, where he plays in the youth side.

The 16-year-old did better than predicted, scoring mostly 6s along with one 7 in his subjects.

He said: “I’ve worked really hard and had a lot of late nights to study.

“If I hadn’t I would probably have got 4s, so I’m really happy. My dad is really chuffed, he didn’t expect this either.

“Now I’ve got to focus on my football at Accrington, but I’m also going to look at engineering as a back up.”

Dixons Allerton Academy headteacher Gary Dreher said: “This years results are outstanding, they are the best the school has had in 20 years.

“We have had nearly a full grade improvement, with 60 per cent of students getting 9-4.

“Nationally only two per cent of grades will be 9s, we have two students with 9s across the board.

“With the new system everyone was nervous this year, so we have done really well to get even better.”

Councillor Imran Khan, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Education, Employment and Skills said: “Congratulations to Bradford pupils receiving their GCSE results today. Once again we are seeing some fantastic results from schools across the district and from our looked after children.

 “These achievements are the result of a lot of hard work by our young people and their teachers, with a great deal of support from families.

“Results are still being collated so it’s too soon for us to get a picture of how we’ve done overall and many subjects are being graded by numbers for the first time so cannot be directly compared with previous years’ results.

“Education is a top priority for us and we shall strive to improve consistently making sure that, as the youngest city in the UK, our young people have the best possible future.  We’re confident we have the right people in place in our schools to achieve this."

Michael Jameson, Strategic Director for Children’s Services, said: “Our young people have worked very hard to get to this point and we’re delighted to see so many great results across the district.

"There’s lots of information and guidance available through Bradford Council and our district partners to consider all post-16 options, from A-levels to apprenticeships.”