Following the government’s U-turn on exam assessments, students at Walton Academy were eager to collect their GCSE results today and to receive their centre assessed grades as measurement of their performance.

Senior leaders at Walton – part of the Diverse Academies Trust – said students were ‘relieved’ and ‘satisfied’ that today’s results were a true reflection of the hard work and dedication they had put in over the course of their Level 2 studies.

One student who was delighted with today’s results was Hayley Mowlam. She achieved grade 9’s in mathematics, further mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, French and history. She also achieved 8’s in English language and literature. On receiving her results, Hayley said: “I am very pleased and happy with these results and would like to thank all of my teachers.  I feel that a lot of my success is down to the support of Walton teachers.”

Another top performer was Ed Warren who achieved 9’s in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history and philosophy, and 8s in English and English literature. Ed said: “This year has been really eventful and personally challenging but I am so pleased that the hard work has paid off.”

Hard work also paid off for Caitlin Anders. She gained top results of 9’s in mathematics, further mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and geography, and 6’s in English language and literature. She said: “I am quite shocked but really happy to see such high grades after such a long time away from school.”

Principal, Will Teece, said: “This has been an a very unique year for students and one that none of us envisaged when we started the academic year.  Our school has been rapidly improving and we have seen grades improve year on year, we expected the same to happen this year with our exceptional year 11 students.  After all the uncertainty that surrounded last week’s A Level grades I am pleased that these students will be given grades that we know are robust, fair and reflect the herculean effort shown by our year 11 students during their five years with Walton.  I am immensely proud of the grit and determination they have shown throughout this year and know they would have excelled had exams had run as normal.  We are very pleased with the outcomes that they have been awarded and these reflect the success of this cohort.

“I congratulate every single one of them for what they have achieved, and I hope they can all progress to the next chapter of their lives confident in their own abilities and knowing they can make a difference.  It’s been a complete privilege to have worked with such a wonderful cohort and I wish them every success moving forward.  I know they will leave with many great memories of Walton and we look forward to welcoming many back into Post 16 next year.”

The academy invites any students yet to secure a place with a post 16 provider for this September or who is considering their post-GCSE options to visit www.walton-ac.org.uk or email post16@walton-ac.org.uk for more information.