STUDENTS at the Samuel Whitbread Academy have maintained last year’s strong showing with their GCSE results.

Although pupils didn’t beat the academy’s record, they posted the best maths results ever and 20 per cent of the 425 students got an A* or an A.

Headteacher Rob Robson said “As always, I am incredibly impressed with the outcomes for our young people, who have worked very hard this year. They have done really well in all areas and I am particularly impressed with their outcomes in maths, which is an area that has shot forward.”

He went on to say: “Unfortunately it looks as though we have suffered from a national problem of a deliberate depressing of the results in English. This is so unfair as our young people worked very hard and our English teachers were confident that they were going to do as well as last year’s cohort, who achieved the best results in the local authority.

“We are appealing against the marking of these papers and I am hoping they get the grades they deserve and have already achieved in other areas,” he added.

Some of this years impressive achievers are Matt Austin who got nine As and two Bs, Richard Berry achieved four A*’s, four As and three Bs while Lily Cook gained seven A*’s, two As, two Bs plus one AS at A and one AS at B. Other high flyers were Savannah Fielder who got four A*, four As and two Bs while James Hefford got six A*’s, three As, two Bs.