Salisbury school marks best ever GCSE results
There's celebrations after a lot of hard work at Wyvern St Edmunds School
A Salisbury school is celebrating its best ever GCSE results today, with more than half of its students gaining Grade 5 or above in English and Maths.
Almost three quarters of pupils at Wyvern St Edmunds (WSE) in Laverstock secured a Grade 4 or higher in English and Maths, while 55% of all grades awarded across the Year 11 cohort were Grade 5 or above.
These results included a Grade 9 in French for Lottie, while Olivia secured a surprise Grade 5 in her Maths and History exams, having not passed in mock exams beforehand.
There was also joy for Gemma, who admitted to struggling in Maths, but came away with a Grade 6 and also for Sam who picked up a Grade 5 in Design Technology, which he needed to get into his preferred college choice.
Headteacher Bruce Burley told Greatest Hits Radio he is proud of the work the students and staff have put in this year.
"I really couldn't be happier. We've got the best results we've ever had. Everyone's put in such a massive shift. We've worked so well together as a partnership," he said. "The students have worked incredibly hard but also I'm so proud of the relationships that have been forged with our teachers who have really gone above and beyond to give our students the best opportunity to get the best grades they can get."
He described achieving the best grades in the schools history as "the cherry on top" after all the hard work.
Mr Burley told us that results day came with some "nervous apprehension, but also a bit of excitement", because the school had made some changes to how it does things to give the pupils a greater chance of success.
"We needed to look at all of our systems and make sure we're doing all the best things possible to enable the year 11s to flourish, as well as all the other year groups. We've put in some serious hours and we've done everything right and everything's gone in the right way this year with our new plans and interventions for students.
"But you never know whether it's going to work or not and you hope and pray that when you look at the results that they're going to go the way that you expected to. And it's so nice when hard work pays off because you tell the students that if you put the hard work in, you follow advice, you'll get the results and you really hope that is the way it's going to go. And thankfully that is the way it's gone this year," he said.
Head Girl, Jheanelle Assan, expanded on some of the changes that had been made: "One of the key improvements was ensuring that student voice was heard and acted upon. It's wonderful to see our year group achieve such fantastic results and I'm proud to have been part of it."