Derby Grammar School celebrates students’ achievements at GCSE

From top results in sciences to stand out musicians, Derby Grammar School was celebrating its students’ achievements, both academic and personal, as they collected their GCSE results.

Among the fantastic overall results for the school of 40% of students earning grades 9 to 7, were many huge personal achievements. Howard, 17, only moved to England from Hong Kong a year ago but he studied hard to achieve a 9 in Cantonese, 4 in English and 6 in Maths. “It was quite difficult coming to England and a hard choice to make and lots of study and work but I am pleased,” he said.

Celebrating two Grade 9s and four Grade 8s among his impressive results was Yuyao. He is looking to study economics and Maths and has also earned a Music Scholarship to Derby Grammar School where he will also study Music A Level. “The science subjects weren’t too bad for me and I felt like they had gone well so now I’m going to study my A levels here,” said the 16-year-old who plays violin. He has just achieved distinction at Grade 8 – the highest grade – in the instrument. Yuyao will also now be going to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester every Saturday to study with them after being accepted to the programme. Mum Nicole said: “These grades were better than expected and he now has lots of options so we are very proud.” Roj also excelled in his science subjects, getting 9s in his Chemistry, Biology and Physics exams as well as two Grade 8s. Mum Sanaria said: “He worked very hard for these results and obviously we are going back to national exams judged at the levels before the pandemic when not long ago it was teacher assessments, so it has been difficult. I’m really proud of him.”

Adam, 16, collected his results aged 16 today, having studied at Derby Grammar since he was seven years old. He collected Grades 6s and 7s across all his subjects. Dad Andrew said: “He has done consistently well across all his subjects and results so we are really proud and pleased for him.”

There were also some early collectors of their GCSEs with Year 9 students Julian and Karamjit both earning Grade 8 in their language subjects of German and Panjabi respectively. Karamjit, 14, said: “It did feel quite strange being in the exam hall with pupils older than me but I am pleased I’ve done it and now I can focus on starting my other GCSE subjects.” Landau Forte student Manjod, 15, also sat his A-level Panjabi at Derby Grammar School.

Overall 40% of pupils earned Grade 9 to 7 and 66% Grade 9 to 6. Head Paul Logan said: “Congratulations to all our pupils on their GCSE results. They performed so well, especially as they were the last year to be directly impacted by the pandemic during their GCSE courses. This year pupils did not benefit from the more lenient grading as recent years did.

“I would like to pay tribute to their hard work and resilience over the last two years, and to the huge amounts of support given by our dedicated teachers and parents. These results show the success of our small class sizes and treating each pupil as an individual, as well as the benefits of continuity of education. Many joined Derby Grammar School in Primary School, and we look forward to welcoming them to the 6th Form."