A STUDENT who achieved 11 top grade 9s in her GCSEs is leading the way in this year’s GCSE results at a North East college.
Keen athlete Abbie Lewis gained the clean sweep at Emmanuel College, where the top 12 achievers clocked up a total of 96 grade 9s between them.
Abbie, who was recognised for her academic ability last year with the college’s Vardy Excellence Award, was closely followed by Annika Graham and Wenxing Zheng who achieved nine top grades.
County champion golfer Adam Charlton teed off a group comprising new head girl Katie Watson, Haseeb Imtiaz and Ellie Guyan with eight grade 9s.
And new head boy Ben Tsow, Malika Riffert, Seb Malik, Peace Fashanu and Sam Steer gained seven of the highest grades.
Overall, Emmanuel College recorded increases in all the top grades, with ten per cent of GCSEs at grade 9 and a further 55 per cent at level 7 and 8.
In chemistry, 35 per cent of students achieved grade 9, while 24 per cent of students taking religious education achieved the top grade. All students taking music achieved a grade 8 or better and in Latin all students achieved a grade 7 or better.
The proportion of students gaining a strong result of grade 5 or better in the English Baccalaureate rose from just under a third to 40 per cent.
Emmanuel College principal Matt Waterfield said: “As we continue to transition into new exam specifications and get used to the new grading system, it’s extremely encouraging to see Emmanuel College students still gaining a vast number of outstanding results.
“The distribution of 9-5 grades has continued to improve on last year and subjects from history to economics, physics to German have improved their pass rate, while others have retained their 100 per cent pass rate.
“As always, a high proportion of students will stay with us in our Sixth Form and we look forward to welcoming them, as well as a number of students who are joining us from other schools, in September for the next stage of their Emmanuel education.”