Didn’t they do well? GCSE Results

Joy and excitement is really infectious. One of the best bits about being a tutor of talented young people is not only sharing their struggles and achievements but being able to celebrate their success in the GCSE results.

My colleagues and I at the Community Schools have been privileged to tutor and support over 100 students sitting exams this year both at GCSE and AS/A level. As we hear of their brilliant successes we thoroughly enjoy receiving thanks such as this.

 ‘Thank you for everything! You have been a wonderful tutor and you have helped us so much with our exams! We couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you’   from  two year 13 maths students heading onto their first choice university courses

‘Just thought I let you know that she passed her maths with level 4. She was over the moon and wanted me to say she wouldn’t have achieved a pass without your help. You gave her the confidence to say I can do this instead of ‘is this wrong ? ’. We will be for ever grateful to you and all the staff at the Community Schools.’ Parent of a year 11 student

Just some of the many thoughtful comments that our tutors have appreciated in the past week.

Remarkably there are few bittersweet moments when we learn of the students that didn’t quite achieve the result that they deserved. It is usually just one of their results which is disappointing but that can still detract from the other good ones.

When this happens we are glad to help out by discussing options available for the student and in fact frequently suggest that they go into school to talk to their teachers about their next steps.

For any student needing to resit GCSE maths or English exams are available in November 2017 but for any other subjects they will have to wait until May/June 2018.

The best thought to hold onto when this happens is that set backs are very temporary and when dealt with in a positive manner will lead onto other opportunities.
Many of our most successful people experienced disappointing results but it did not stop them it was merely the start of something different and better.

Richard Branson left school at 16.
Winston Churchill failed at school and failed his entrance exams to Royal Military College
Bill Gates dropped out of university
Steven Spielberg dropped out of Junior High School
As was discovered by one of our year 12 students who retook her maths GCSE this year

‘Just letting you know I passed my maths GCSE!! I’m so happy and would just like to thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me I appreciate it so much. Thank you’ 

Some Official Stats from 2017 GCSE results

Due to the changes in this year’s GCSE grading system, this year’s results can’t be compared with those of previous years according to headteachers. There are now three top grades – 7, 8 and 9 – compared to two under the old system – A* and A – with A* results now split into 8s and 9s. This needs to be taken into consideration when interpreting this year’s GCSE national data which reveal:

• The proportion of GCSE entries receiving grade A/7 or above has fallen 0.5% to 20% compared with last year.
• Overall in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, passes (grades C/4 and above) dropped 0.6 percentage points to 66.3%.
• In England, the English literature pass-rate fell 2.5 percentage points to 72%, but in maths, it rose from 61.5% to 68.9%. Both are the new, tougher exams.
• Exam boards revealed that 2,000 extremely able candidates got a 9 in all three new exams. There were 50,000 grade 9s overall – two-thirds of which were girls

Last Updated on December 7, 2021