Hammersmith Academy celebrates students’ GCSE success despite uncertainty brought by covid-19 and government u-turn on awarding of grades.

GCSE Standout Successes

Batoul Gheleb was the Academy’s highest achiever, scoring a spectacular 9 grade 9s. She said, “It was stressful leading up to today’s GCSE results, including all the confusion with how we were going to be awarded our GCSE grades. Overall, I’m delighted with my results this year, which were better than I was anticipating. I’m grateful for the support I received from the Academy, from weekly emails assessing our progress, to detailed tasks to assist our learning. Teachers were kind enough to outline our next steps, following GSCEs, ensuring our transition to Sixth Form was as smooth as possible. I will be continuing my journey in Hammersmith Academy’s Sixth Form.”

Lilith Nelson attained an impressive 7 grade 9s and 2 grade 8s. She explained, “After seeing what A-Level students went through I feel we are lucky. I was nervous about my grades, but I knew based on my mocks that I would be ok because I’ve always worked hard for them and took them seriously. I am so happy and relieved to get the results that I received. Thank you to all the teachers who supported us, they really helped me and I am really looking forward to studying the subjects I really enjoy.”

Kyha Haynes-Muir achieved 6 grade 9s, 2 grade 8s and a grade 7. She added, “When we were told that we would not be sitting final exams it sounded like we didn’t need to worry, but it has been stressful thinking about what we may get, especially seeing what A-Level students went through. The Academy has really kept us motivated and thinking about next year’s education by giving us transition work and that helped settle my nerves. I’m already thinking about Sixth Form and looking into a career in sports.”

Matthew Sanetra secured 4 grade 9s, a grade 8, 2 grade 7s and 2 grade 5s. He said, “GCSEs this year were stressful because they would be grading me without sitting an official exam, and I was worried about having grades downgraded. I think the change to the way exam grades were determined was needed because it heavily favoured students from certain backgrounds.
The Academy did an amazing job supporting us. From day one of school closure I pushed myself with A-Level content because I knew that nothing could change my GCSE grades, and I was in constant communication with the Academy and St Paul’s School’s engineering society for help with my physics project.
I am very happy with my results and I am thankful to all the amazing teachers I have had over the years, this school has definitely pushed me to my limits and I feel like the centre assessed grades are nothing short of what I could have achieved. I’m excited to see how next year will be, and I can’t wait to see everyone again!”

Milcah Tareke attained 5 grade 9s, 3 grade 8s and a grade 5. She explained, “GCSEs have been a strange experience for all of us this year, with us not taking the exams, only hoping we had done well enough in previous assessments to get the grades we wanted. I think lots of people, myself included, had some regret in not working that little bit harder during mocks to make sure they got the grades they wanted, but nobody could have foreseen the GCSE examinations being cancelled. I feel it was a good decision to base grades entirely on the teacher assessment instead, as, ultimately, the teachers are the best informed on their own students, not the government or Ofqual.”

Other top achievers include Osuke Miyamaru with 5 grade 9s, 3 grade 8s and a grade 6. Amber Al Wafai with 5 grade 9s, 2 grade 8s a grade 7 and a distinction BTEC.

Headteacher, Gary Kynaston, said “Our CGSE cohort has achieved an impressive set of results, which exceeds the national average. This is very much in line with our results trend over the last five years.
It has been a tumultuous year for our GCSE students, who have missed a significant part of the academic year, including their final examinations. They have been nervously waiting for the results, made all the more challenging with the government’s last minute changes to the way results are awarded, earlier in the week.

Students should be proud of their achievements, and it is an achievement regardless of whether exams have been sat, as grades have been calculated on work that has been accomplished and mock exams over the course of two years. The majority of our Year 11 students will now go on to our Sixth Form to begin a new phase of their education and work towards university places and building careers.

Thank you to the parents and staff who have worked closely together to guide and support our Year 11 students through the uncertain time we find ourselves in. Their efforts place the students in a positive position to start the new academic year.”