Proud principal praises hard working pupils at Garstang Community Academy

A total 69 per cent of GCA leavers exceeded or gained the five pass grades or better including english and maths measure and 20 per cent gaining a maths/english grade 7 or better.

Mr Ashcroft applauded the hard work of the year group after what he called a ‘general toughening up’ of the GCSE grading system.

In addition there were many stand out individual performances, with head boy James Parker achieving the new grade 9 in both english and maths as well as A* and A grades in all other subjects

Chris Saunders, Liliana Andrews, William Brown, Zak Clifton, Josh Gilmore, Josh Kelsall, Cerys Mawby, Holly Myers, Joseph Nayler and Jack Smit also gained a haul of A/A* or the new 9/8/7 grades.

Mr Ashcroft said: “Against a backdrop of national uncertainty and a general ‘toughening up’ of exam grades, I am incredibly proud of my students’ fabulous GCSE results, which are a reflection of the resilience and hard work of everyone at GCA.

“I wish all of our wonderful students all the very best as they move on, with the grades they need, to the next exciting phase of their lives.”

This year’s exam system has been described as “confused” as students collected results which were marked in two different ways.

For the first time in England, GCSE English and maths students sat a new curriculum, with an extra maths paper, and were tested at the end of two years while other subjects were modular.

English and maths gave been graded numerically, from 1-9, with nine being the highest, while other subjects remain at the old A* to C.

Headteachers said they found it hard to get an overall picture of success rates, but schools across Lancashire fared well with results continuing to be good, with many topping the national average for the gold standard grades.