Over 2/3 of our students achieved 5 or more grade 9-4 GCSE grades including English and Maths. whilst a record-breaking 72% achieving grade 4 or better in English and Maths, with over 47% achieving a 5+ in English and Maths, and an overall average GCSE points score of 4.95. Students achieved 118 top grades, reflecting the impact of both high teaching on a daily basis and the value of our ‘Aim Higher’ sessions which students attend voluntarily after school.

There were some standout individual performances from many Stratford students, with our highest attainers being Lola Tadros, Ayaan Durrani, Chloe Jones, Josh Jones, Ciara Walsh, Lawrence Dowell and Francesca Capes.

However, it is important that students make excellent progress from their respective starting points and it is lovely to see so many students achieving grades to be proud of. Sophie Larkin, Illia Akhremento, Sam Lambert, Honey Atkins, Niharika Neelala, Edith Chan, Maddy Rimell, James O’Connor and Tess Hughes should be particularly proud of their results.

We are equally mindful that school is about more than just examination grades and that the academic curriculum does not suit everyone. The government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review is due to report later in the year and this might lead to a healthier balance of subjects being studied by young people in schools. The EBacc should be scrapped and more done to promote the importance of subjects that have been previously sidelined, particularly those in the creative arts and design technology. As things stand, nationally the quotas of grades awarded mean that one third of young people leave secondary school without a standard pass in GCSE English and Maths and the system needs to work for this so-called ‘Forgotten Third’.

Nevertheless, students deserve great credit for completing their compulsory schooling, as do the members of staff and families who have supported them throughout the last 5 years, the pandemic and beyond. We wish every one of our students the very best for the future and look forward to welcoming record numbers of them back into the Sixth Form, alongside students from other local schools who have also been enrolling online today”.

Neil Wallace

Headteacher