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Durham High School would like to congratulate its Year 11 pupils for their strength of character and maturity in achieving an outstanding set of GCSE results this year.

Pupils have done remarkably well this year given the circumstances, with over a quarter of all entries (28%) awarded the top grade of 9 and 52% of entries Grade 9-8. Over 70% were awarded Grade 9-7.

With examinations cancelled back in March, GCSE grades have been calculated differently this year. Schools submitted estimated grades to the examination boards, which the Government announced earlier this week would be awarded to pupils. These grades were determined through a fair and rigorous process by senior staff at Durham High School to reflect the results that girls would have been expected to achieve had they been able to sit their GCSE examinations last term.

Headmistress, Mrs Simone Niblock, praised students and staff for their fortitude during this unpredictable period.  She said, “This has been an extremely anxious time for all pupils awaiting GCSE results, with speculation and uncertainty unfolding in the media over how their grades would be determined. We are absolutely delighted for our girls, however, for what they have achieved with this remarkable set of results. We were expecting great things of this fantastic year group and we are delighted that they have got the great results that they deserve.”

“We would also like to acknowledge the work of our staff, who went through a rigorous process in determining each girl’s Centre Assessed Grades, working hard to ensure each mark was fair and balanced. This was while they were also at the forefront of our fantastic remote learning programme, to ensure that education remained as ‘normal’ as possible for our pupils during the enforced closure of schools. They should be very proud of what has been achieved over this last term.”