THE new headteacher of The Nobel School in Stevenage thinks this year’s GCSE results are “the start of an upward trend towards really outstanding examination results”.

The number of students achieving five A*-C grades including English and maths was 54%, an increase of 8% from last year.

The overall pass rate of five grades at A*-C was 72%.

“Students, staff and parents have worked really hard for this improvement and I am absolutely certain it marks the start of an upward trend towards really outstanding examination results”, said incoming head Martyn Henson, who starts in September.

“Most of our students will be returning to the sixth form and amongst them there have been some truly outstanding individual performances, particularly at the highest levels. We are especially pleased with the number of students who have achieved the highest A* and A grades – 17% – and that levels of progress across the board have also significantly improved.

“These results are significantly up on last year and are positive against the national trend, we are very confident that next year our examination results will be even better as we work towards Nobel being an outstanding school.”

There were outstanding performances from Holly Ingram, Michelle Wan and Emma Rodgers who achieved a clean sweep of high grades.