GCSE results 2018: Bishop’s Hatfield Girl’s School

It’s been an emotional morning at Bishop’s Hatfield Girls’ School as the pupils pick up their GCSE results.

One girl ran through the hubbub yelling “I passed!” and ran straight into her delighted parents’ arms.

Another girl, high achiever Ilina Georgieva, said she “genuinely wasn’t expecting” her 10 9s and one 8.

This is the first year when all the GCSE subjects taken by Bishop’s Hatfield girls have been under the new specifications with the new 9 to 1 grades, all based entirely on exams rather than coursework.

Head teacher Theodora Nickson said that there was uncertainty all round from both teachers and students as to the effect these changes would have on performance.

As pupil Grace Gregor put it: “There’s no coursework and it’s all exams.

“You have to cram two years of content in such a short space of time”.

At one stage Grace had three exams in one day - including her French reading and French literature exams back to back. “I was so tired!” she said.

Yet she rose to the challenge by scooping impressive results.

Another success story came from Zoe Pymont, who said her target grades had been between 3s and 5s.

But, after revising hard, she knocked it out of the park and got 8s - the equivalent of an old ‘A’ - in four of her subjects.

“She’s made significant progress,” said Mrs Nickson.

Natalia Stirbu is delighted to have landed a place on an apprenticeship to Japanese pharmaceutal company EISAI with her maths and English results - all the more of an achievement as English is her second language.

She said she had nearly cried in one exam, but said: “I just had to keep calm and focus, because I needed to get the results,” she said.

The school reports that 19 girls achieved a minimum of eight grades at seven to nine, and that over 27 per cent of the grades were 7 or above.

• Georgia Gates – ten grade 9s and one 8

• Ilina Georgieva - ten grade 9s and one 8

• Aisha Animashaun – seven grade 9s, three 8s and one 7

Mrs Nickson added: “Preliminary analysis shows that the vast majority of our girls have made excellent progress through their GCSE years.

“I would particularly like to express my gratitude to all the staff who have shown such resilience during this year, in coping with all these changes to curriculum and assessment – this has been a stressful time but focussing on achieving the best outcomes for the girls has always been a priority.

“And much praise must go to the girls, who supported by staff and families, have worked so hard to cope with the assessment changes and whilst they may have felt themselves to be a ‘guinea pig’ year, they have risen to the challenge yet again.”

The pupils’ celebration plans ranged from “sitting back and doing nothing!” to having a slap-up Chinese meal.

But as Ilina said with relief: “I don’t need to celebrate, the grades are enough.”