Students at The Elton High School are celebrating successful GCSE results following the pandemic.

Today the school announced that more than 70 per cent of students achieved grades at 4 and above in GCSE English and maths, while around 50 per cent achieved a grade 5 or above in both subjects.

GCSE exams were last sat in 2019 after which students received teacher calculated grade during the pandemic.

The school’s two highest achieving students, Nina Jones and Luke Neale, both 16, said their school had supported them well during COVID.

Nina said: “The school did all they could to help us out but it was a totally new thing for everybody, it was quite tough but I think it was good life experience to learn how to balance work.

Nina achieved 9s, the highest attainable grade, in all but two subjects, while Luke achieved 4 9s, 4 8s and one 7.

Both students will be heading to Holy Cross College where Nina will study A-levels in physics, maths and history and Luke maths, further maths, chemistry and biology.

They’ll both be celebrating their results with their friends and family tonight.

The Elton School Head Girl, Freya McGinty, said: “ Obviously the class of 2022 have had a difficult two years and it made a lot of people very anxious about their GCSEs.

“We’re all grateful to our families for their support and would like to say a big thank you to the teachers who helped us through lockdown with online classes .

“We weren’t sure if GCSEs would go ahead but when we found out they would we knew we had lots of support an extra sessions to help us, we’re really grateful.”

Headteacher Jonathan Wilton said: “We are very proud of all of our students today: despite the impact of the Covid pandemic on their education they have worked hard, with the support of their parents and teachers, and will leave us as confident and resilient young people with strong academic results, ready to move on to the next stage of their lives.

“The results reflect the hard work of our school community which was again recognised by Ofsted earlier this year and we continue to go from strength to strength.

“It is a pleasure to lead such a hard-working and committed team of staff, and to work every day with such fantastic students and families.”