A STUDENT who gained nine top grade nines in her GCSEs led the high achievers at leading North East school Emanuel College in today’s results.
Erin Cresswell, who has achieved nine grade 9s, one grade 8 and an A^ in further maths, led 11 students who gained at least five passes at the top grade at the college in Gateshead.
Erin, 16, of Gateshead, whose grade 9s were in biology, chemistry, English literature, French, geography, German, maths, physics and religious education, said: “It was a lot of hard work, but I am still extremely surprised that I have done so well.
“To be honest I’m stunned to have received so many 9 grades, it’s absolutely amazing.”
She will be staying at Emmanuel to do A Levels in maths, further maths, biology and chemistry with a view to a future career in science.
Mum Heather added: “A lot of revision, effort and great teaching have gone into Erin’s results and I am so proud of her. Her younger brother is just about to go into year 9 so she has set quite a high benchmark for him to follow.”
Erin was closely followed by Josh Dixon, with eight 9s, two 8s and an A* and A^ in further maths, Sidharth Nambiath, with seven 9s, two 8s, two A*s and an A in further maths, Amy Baker, with six 9s, four 8s, and an A, Lucy Kay (six 9s, three 8s and an A*, Sam Gorman, Steven Mansell, Gemma Moran, Kezia Bell, Sarah Larmour and Tejes Sundar.
For another student, Maab Ahmed, from Sudan, gaining eight passes was an enormous achievement since she came to the UK as an asylum seeker and had very little English when she joined Year 9 at Emmanuel just two years ago. Among her passes was a 100 per cent score in Arabic.
Principal Matt Waterfield said: “We are, as always, thankful for the many impressive results that students have received today and congratulate them for their achievements. Nine per cent of all grades were the coveted grade 9 qualification
“As with all schools, we are grappling with the complexity of this data, noting that this is the first year of assessment in the new reformed GCSEs for most subjects. We had some excellent highlights such as RE with 48 (or 24 per cent) grade 9s, chemistry with 65 per cent of grades being 7 or better, 57 per cent of grades at 7 or better in physics and Latin where 80 per cent of grades were 7 or better.”