ONCE again, St Mary’s Menston students have achieved excellent GCSE results this year. In keeping with previous years, they have excelled in their performance and demonstrated high academic standards in key attainment and progress measures.

The school is particularly delighted with the grade 9 performance of students this year. A 9 grade is a new GCSE grade introduced by the Department for Education to recognise outstanding examination performance.

One hundred and forty-four grade 9s have been achieved across a number of different subject areas. This builds on the tremendous success achieved last year and demonstrates exceptional subject performance. The pass grade of 9-4 in English and mathematics remains high at 82 per cent and is significantly above previous national average measures. Likewise, the more challenging pass grade of 9-5 in English and mathematics is pleasing at 61 per cent which is in line with the record results in 2018.

As always, the individual English and mathematics results remain strong and stable and are a great success for the school. Ninety-one per cent achieved a 9-4 grade in English and 85 per cent achieved a 9-4 grade in mathematics.

Headteacher, Darren Beardsley, is delighted with the 2019 results. He said: "This is a fantastic achievement for everyone involved in the school and is the reward for the hard work and endeavour of all staff and students, as well as the support provided by our families.

"We look forward to welcoming our students into the sixth form in September as they embark on their level 3 studies. We know the GCSE results achieved this year will form a solid foundation on which to build and the students will go on to achieve great success in the future.”