Hundreds of youngsters across Ipswich are today ripping open their brown envelopes to learn their GCSE results.

East Anglian Daily Times:

As results are released across the country students in Ipswich are finally discovering whether their hard work has paid off.

With warnings nationally that many students may not get the grades they are expecting because of harder exams, youngsters in the town will be hoping to buck the trend.

At East Bergholt High School staff celebrated a record-breaking year with their successful students.

Head Colin Turner said he was “absolutely delighted” at 69% of students achieving five A* to C grades, including English and Maths – an increase of 20% from the class of 2012 and “the highest the school has ever achieved in this measure”.

He praised outstanding individual performances, congratulating Lauren Brixey, Maddie Caulfield, Holly Harrison-Reed, Holly Bruce, Hattie Hennell-James, Gena Leydon, Tamara Massey, Haylie Morris, Clarissa Osborne, and Hannah Yellop, who all achieved at least 10 grades at A* or A.

Mr Turner also extended his praise to twins Alice and Megan Fox achieved 21 top grades between them, as well as the 40 other students who gained at least five A* and A grades.

He said. “We are absolutely delighted with this amazing set of results.

“We have seen substantial improvements from 2012 in all our key performance indicators.

“Our A*-C rate in Mathematics and English have both improved; in the case of mathematics by over 24%, and we have almost seen a doubling in our number of A*/A grades in both of these key core subjects.

“Students and staff, supported by parents, worked extremely hard and thoroughly and deserve this success.”

At Kesgrave High School 99% of the 280 students arriving to pick up their brown envelopes were rewarded with at least five A* to E grades.

Headteacher Nigel Burgoyne said the damp weather certainly did not reflect his students’ resounding successs.

He said 65% of pupils achieved five A* to C grades, including English and Maths while overall 87% achieved the five A* to C grades.

And the class of 2013 also showed strong achievement at A* and A with 26% of students being awarded the coverted top grades.

At Northgate High School headteacher David Hutton said despite the increased difficulty in science, more than 75% of his students still achieved A* to C grades in the subject.

Overall 68% of pupils at the school in Sidegate Lane gained five A* to C grades including English and Maths – up from last year’s results.

Mr Hutton said “These are very good results. For example, even given the increased difficulty nationally in science, over 75% of Northgate pupils still achieved A*-C grades in these subjects. I congratulate Northgate’s Year 11 pupils on their well deserved achievements.”

And at Ipswich School in Henley Road an impressive batch of exam results were awarded to pupils with more A* grades being awarded than any other.

Headmaster Nicholas Weaver said more than 68% of exams were graded either A* or A.

He added: “We have seen fantastic results across the board and I am immensely proud of all our girls and boys for their all-round achievements.

“GCSEs are designed to test a broad range of subjects, and for pupils to do well over the whole breadth of demanding subjects can be challenging – I really would like to congratulate them all on a set of excellent results.

“We place an emphasis on high quality education as the foundation stone for exam success, and I think these results bear this out.

“I would like to thank all the staff and parents who have supported our pupils throughout their exam time, and no doubt they are as pleased as I am with the result.”

Of the 120 year 11 students who took GCSE exams, six gained at least 10 A* grades each and one-third of pupils achieved 10 A* and A grades.

Across the year, 99.2% of pupils achieved the standard of at least five A* to C grades, including English and Maths.

At Copleston High School, 68% of students gained five A*-C grades including English and Maths.

Shaun Common, headteacher, said: “We would like to congratulate our students, staff and parents on these outstanding results at GCSE level this year. 68% of students gaining 5 A* to C grades including English and Mathematics at a time when the examinations are more demanding is a truly wonderful achievement and bears testimony to the incredible hard work of our students supported by our dedicated staff.

“There were also a number of wonderful individual performances. The vast majority of students achieved their targets and we would like to publically congratulate them and wish them well for the future.

Suffolk New Academy saw 40% of their students achieving five or more A*- C grades, including English and Maths.

Principal Andrew Fell said: “Given the ‘significant turbulence’ in the national picture, the results are encouraging for the Academy’s first year of opening and represent a huge amount of hard work from our staff and students.”

Meanwhile, 50% of students achieved five or more A*- C grades, including English and Maths, at Ormiston Endeavour Academy.

Principal Samantha Penn said: “We are very happy that we have maintained the success of last year.

“We have achieved what we set out to do, which was to sustain the improvement we saw last year- our results are 35% higher than those recorded at the predecessor school in 2011.

“I am so proud of all our staff and students’ hard work.”

At the Royal Hospital School, 89% of students have achieved five or more A*- C grades, including English and Maths.

Headmaster James Lockwood said: “I am absolutely delighted with the number of pupils for whom sheer hard work and commitment has paid off.

“With the wide range of abilities accepted in to the school it reflects well how we are able to realise the individual potential of every pupil.

“This year’s A*/A pass rate is a 43% and there has been around a 10% increase on the number of top A*grades awarded to RHS pupils compared to last year which, in the current environment of grade deflation, represents a significant achievement.

“I am particularly pleased with the results gained in the separate sciences with 93% of all chemistry, biology and physics papers gaining an A* or A grade.

“The support and guidance given by our dedicated teaching staff has contributed to these successes.”

At St Joseph’s College, 84% of students achieved five or more A*-C grades, including English and Maths, an improvement on the average of the past four years. There was also a 27% score in A*-A grades.

Headmaster Chris Lumb said: “Following on from the excellent A level results last week, we are delighted that our students across the board have produced such pleasing results.

“As we do not narrowly select on the basis of ability, it is equally pleasing to see that both our high achievers and students across our ability range have done so well. Once again, we are very proud of all of our students’ achievements.

“They are to be heartily congratulated. With students soon moving into the Sixth Form, they have just a short time to rest on their laurels before focusing on their A level studies.”

At St Alban’s Catholic High School students helped the school achieve their best ever set of GCSE results with 70% of students gaining five A* to C grades including English and maths.

Headteacher Colin Walker praised the “dedicated and focussed effort to get pupils to reach their potential from pupils, staff, governors and importantly parents”.

He said: “This is a day of celebration of both academic achievement and of the fulfilment of the schools ethos of “Learning, Respecting and Caring”.”

And he paid tribute to the “huge contribution” made to the school by his predecessor Dennis McGarry who left the school at Easter.

Meanwhile staff and pupils at Claydon High School were delighted with their results.

This year 60% of students achieved five A* to C grades including English and maths – a 7% increase on last year.

The maths department are celebrating their best ever set of results with 71% of pupils reaching the standard A* to C and in English the excellent results were replicated with 69% at A* to C.

Head Sarah Skinner said: “We have gone up in virtually all subjects, we are delighted with our best ever set of results.

“We have achieved all of our Ofsted targets and are delighted.

“I would like to congratulate the staff, students and parents on their hard work and commitment. I wish the students every success for the future.”

Another school celebrating is Ipswich Academy where staff have seen a “huge increase” in the number of A*-C grades – 64% this year compared with 41% in 2012.

And the number of students achieving five A*-C grades, including English and maths has also jumped from 23% last year to 31% for the class of 2013.

Principal Nancy Robinson praised the “hard work and commitment now being shown by students at the school”.

“We have now turned the corner and there is an increasing sense of students aiming high and really wanting to achieve,” she said. “This is also seen in the number of students wanting to stay on to our Sixth Form, something which has been encouraged by our pleasing A-level results last week.

“We have many more students achieving the higher grades this year and we are very proud of the progress which all our students have made.”

One student Diego Pinto Torres achieved seven A*s, four As and one B, and is one of the many who will be staying on at the Academy to study for his A levels.

Meanwhile classmate Devon Old Gooch achieved one A*, three As and three Bs and Megan Everett achieved 10 GSCEs including two A*s.

John Baumber, the CEO of the Learning Schools Trust, the Academy’s sponsor, said: “On the back of the excellent A-level results last week, it is pleasing to see the increase in results.

“One of our mantras is ”to achieve more than you believe possible” and we are beginning to demonstrate this.

“Although we are pleased with the improvements, we know that we can continue to improve.

“There is much more to come! We should not be judged by the headline figure alone. There are many students who have not yet gained their English or Maths but who have attained huge success in vocational courses.”