The Headteacher has congratulated pupils as the school achieves best results in four years, bucking the national trend

Ham & High: Patrick Cozier, head teacher at Highgate Wood School has congratulated pupils on their progressPatrick Cozier, head teacher at Highgate Wood School has congratulated pupils on their progress (Image: Archant)

Highgate Wood School pupils were rushing to thank their teachers and phone their parents as 70 per cent achieved five A* to C grades.

This is up six per cent from last year and a two per cent improvement from 2013 and 2014.

There were 31 per cent A* to A grades this year.

And 23 per cent of pupils attained the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), which is awarded when students secure a grade C or above at GCSE level across a core of five academic subjects – English, mathematics, history or geography, the sciences and a language.

Pheobe Bennett was delighted with her 6 A*s and 4As, which she achieved in spite of missing a lot of January and February after undergoing an operation for Morphea, a rare skin condition.

She said the school was very helpful, and she learnt how to study by herself.

Harry Ghose Coveney is very excited with his 7A*s and 4As which mean he can enrol in an international sixth form and join his father in Dubai.

Gabriel Brown exceeded all expectations and received 11 A*s.

Amy Townsend-Lowcock received 10 A*s and 1 A, and Madeline Baron acheived 9A*s and 2As.

Headteacher Patrick Cozier told a lively gathering of pupils: “I feel that these are the best results we’ve had as a school. You have to congratulate yourself, you’ve done amazingly well.”

He later added: “We are thrilled that yet again our students have made excellent progress throughout their five years at Highgate Wood. I am particularly proud of this year group. They worked so hard and stayed focused this year and have performed brilliantly.”

It has been widely reported that the number of students gaining A*-C grades dropped 2.1 percentage points to 66.9 per cent nationally.