There were celebrations at Oxford Spires Academy when students received their GCSE results last Thursday.
Every student in Year 11 got at least one GCSE and 63 per cent achieved five or more A* to C grades. With 41 per cent of students gaining an A* to C grade in both English and maths, results were 10 per cent better than in 2010. The academy only opened in January following the closure of Oxford School.
Principal Sue Croft told the Journal she had spent the past two terms focusing on raising pupil’s attainment. She said: “Students and staff have worked hard to achieve these results and I am pleased with the outcome. These results are well deserved by all.”
Thrilled students included Kyle Edwards, 16, from Cowley, who passed 12 GCSEs compared to the usual 10 taken by most pupils. He achieved an A*, four As, three Bs and four Cs.
Kyle said: “I am Japanese so I took the language as an extra subject, and I also love music so I took that as an after school class too. I am really happy with my results. I came back from Japan last night just to get them after a month away. I’m planning to do maths, physics, economics and music at A-Level, with music as my main focus as I want to be a drummer.”
Another success story was Bartosz Yan Czerniawski, 16, who moved to Oxford from Poland three years ago without being able to speak a word of English. Now fluent in his second language, Bartosz achieved two As, five Bs and one D. He said: “I am very pleased with my results, I was expecting Cs so this was very good news. My plans are to stay here, get more education and then hopefully get a good job.”
Also taking a GCSE was teaching assistant Tracy Claydon from Wallingford. Tracy is a member of the support staff at Oxford Spires and achieved an A grade in additional science. Tracy said: “I am so pleased as I found the last paper that I took really hard so I wasn’t expecting an A. I just can’t stop smiling.”
Principal Sue Croft said: “We are set on an upward trajectory of success. If we can achieve a 10 percentage point increase in two terms just imagine what we can achieve in five terms with next year’s Year 11.”
