GCSE

Suravi , aged 16, from Helenswood Academy in Hastings has passed 11 GCSEs with 1 A*, 6 As 2 Bs and 2 Ds and wants to continue her education at sixth form.
“I feel very supported at Helenswood and the teachers are good.  I think that’s one of the reasons I want to stay here, because I like a lot of the teachers.  I wasn’t very good at history but Miss Warburton, my history teacher, was really good at encouraging me and using different techniques if one didn’t work.
I take it quite seriously.  I want to do well for personal satisfaction but also because you need good grades to get into a good college and then university.”

Arash, aged 16, from ARK William Parker Academy passed 13 GCSEs getting 4 A*s, 6 As, 2 Bs and a C including A*s in Science and History. 
“The teachers were a massive help in the GCSEs because of the revision sessions they offered. ARK has been quite helpful too. They’ve completely regenerated parts of the school, and the library has been a massive help. There are so many books and good resources, and it’s a really calm space that you can study in. It was the best thing they could do because it meant that we could be independent – they helped us to help ourselves.
When you get in there and when you open that envelope, you’re just praying for the highest grade you can get. It’s an important moment in your life. It dictates your future. To study what you want to study at a further level, like A-levels or at university, you need those primary GCSEs and that understanding from your GCSEs. "

Vanessa from Evelyn Grace Academy passed 12 GCSEs. She got 4 As, 3 Bs, 3 Cs and a D, including As in English, geography, performing arts and RE.
“I want to be a forensic psychologist. I think it’s so interesting. I want to help victims get through.”
Her ambition is to study at Columbia University in New York. She is now planning to take her A levels at Evelyn Grace’s new sixth form.
“Evelyn Grace is a good school. They have great teachers and I like it here.”
She would be the first in her family to go to university. Her family moved from Trinidad to England when she was eight years old.

Holly, a student at Charter Academy in Portsmouth received an amazing set of GCSE results, despite not learning to read or write until she was 10. She passed 10 GCSEs with 2 A*s, 3 As, 2 Bs and 2 Cs, including an A* in English Literature and an A in English Language. She plans to stay at Charter Academy to study for her A-levels. She wants to go to Cambridge University and become a film director. Recently, she embarked on a five-week summer school residential to Phillips Exeter Academy, an award-winning school in New Hampshire, United States.
"I didn’t learn to read and write until I was about nine, 10 years old, but that had been because I’d moved around a lot, I hadn’t really got a lot of schooling in.  It wasn’t until I came to this school that I was actually diagnosed with dyslexia and that’s when they took action and I had an intervention class about once or twice every week and we built up my confidence in reading.
Before each exam, we went through pretty intensive revision which was really, really great because I definitely needed that. Personally I’m quite heavily dyslexic and yet my favourite subject is English. The only way I could get round it was through the extracurricular help that I was given. I kind of have the theory that if you want something then you go and get it."

Isaac  deputy head boy from ARK Globe Academy passed 12 GCSEs with 5 A*s, 5 As and 2 Bs, including A*s in maths, further maths, science and computer science. He wants to go to university to study engineering after getting his A-levels.
 “I’m happy about my results. It’s a reward for all the hard work and lessons. I’d like to say thank you to my teachers.
Engineering looks at the resources that people have in their area and at the technologies that can be used to improve their lives. That’s what I want to do. I’m looking forward to making a difference to people’s lives.  If you go into any profession that’s what you are looking to do.
ARK Globe Academy has helped me out massively. I look back at the person I was and I can’t believe how much I’ve changed. I wasn’t as focused as I am now on my education. Here there is more discipline, but there are also more opportunities. It’s more positive and more upbeat.”