It was an emotional morning for students across Wanstead and Woodford as they headed to school to pick up their A-Level results.
With most teens having already logged on to see if they got their place at university, for many getting their grades was just a formality and a chance to celebrate with friends and teachers.
Wanstead High School celebrated their best results ever, with over 50 per cent of pupils getting A* to B grades, and nearly 25 per cent bagging As or A*s.
Wanstead High top performers Joseph Perry, Jane Burton, Ms Eleni Bray (head of sixth form) Lily Daintry-Spraggon, Dylan Williams, and Eleanor Daly (left to right)
From classical civilisation to further maths, Wanstead High has 28 different courses to choose from.
Head teacher Bob Hamlyn said: “These results make me incredibly proud of all the students, teachers and support staff who worked so hard to make this possible.
“We know that these young people leaving Wanstead High School have a bright future, and we will continue to strive to do better every year so that all our students can look forward to such opportunities.”
Among some of the high achievers were Joseph Parry, Jane Burton, Lily Daintry-Spraggon, Dylan Williams, and Eleanor Daily who are all off to study at top Russell group universities.
Woodbridge High students open their all-important envelopes (Photo: Mark Soanes)
Over at Woodbridge High in Woodford Green there were more smiling faces.
Chelsea Brown, 18, was the school’s top performer, getting A*s across the board in maths, further maths, and physics.
She is off to Manchester University to study physics in a few weeks and says she is over the moon with her grades.
Chelsea Brown was Woodbridge High's top performer getting A*s across the board (Photo: Mark Soanes)
Chelsea added: “They were my predicted grades, but I was really surprised, I didn’t think I’d get an A in further maths – it was really hard.
“I’ve been revising for four hours a day since January/February time.
“I’ve always loved maths and physics is kind of the next step of applying it to the real world, so I’m really excited.”
Asked what she is doing to celebrate her outstanding achievements, she said she was off to Nando’s.
Soleh Cifonelli is going to Cambridge University to study maths
Another student Woodbridge is particularly proud of is 18-year-old Soleh Cifonelli who is going to Cambridge to study maths.
He got A*s in maths and further maths and an A in physics, but was worried he would not get accepted after narrowly missing out on passing his entrance exam.
He said: “It’s been a lot of hard work. As soon as I came home from school every day I would have to start revising straight away.
“I only decided to apply for Cambridge last year, but I’m really looking forward to it. Being around so many people of the same ability will be amazing.”
Asked why he chose maths he said he likes how “creative” it can be, especially when studying it at a higher level.
Cicely Pilkington is using her grades to study a foundation art degree at Kingston University (Photo: Mark Soanes)
Cicely Pilkington is taking a less academic path and using her A* in art and Bs in French and history to do a foundation art degree at Kingston University.
The 18-year-old bagged an unconditional offer from Kingston earlier this year, which means she would have got in regardless of what her grades were.
Kiera Sohel, Sophie Vinning and Cicely Pilkington (left to right) picking up their results from Woodbridge High (Photo: Mark Soanes)
She said: “I’m not sure if they give out unconditional offers very often, but I was so happy when I got it.
“Art is my passion and I’ve known I want to do it for years.”
Former head students at Woodbridge High Ross and Ailish are off to Exeter to study Russian (Photo: Mark Soanes)
Former head students Ross Nelson and Ailish Farrell are both off to Exeter University to study Russian.
Ross is combining it with international relations and despite taking French at GCSE, says he always felt “more confident” in Russian.
He said: “It never felt like a burden, I really enjoy it, and can’t wait to go there on my year abroad.”
Ailish is taking up Russian from scratch and combining it with German. She decided to study the language after a school trip to St Petersburg in Year 12.
She said: “Actually going there and seeing it used every day made me realise it isn’t as scary as everyone thinks.”
Emilia Blyskal got her grades to study architecture at UWE in Bristol (Photo: Mark Soanes)
Other high achievers include Emilia Blyskal who got an A* in product design, A in art and B in English and is off to study architecture at the University of West England, and Valentin Nachev who bagged A*s in maths and further maths and a B in economics.
Isolde Reynolds and Elizabeth Chandler (left to right) are both delighted with their grades and are off to study French and education studies and computer science at uni (Photo: Mark Soanes)
Head teacher Andrew Beaumont said he was “very pleased” with this year’s results.
He said: “Overall, our students in year 13 have done well and many have gained the places they wanted at universities across the country.
“The sixth form at Woodbridge High School has an established reputation as an excellent provider over many years, and this year’s results continue to build on these excellent outcomes given the new format and increased rigour of new A-Levels.”
Woodbridge students pick up their results in St Barnabas Road, Woodford Green (Photo: Mark Soanes)
At Trinity Catholic High School in Woodford Green students and teachers celebrated the best results they have ever had.
Over 50 per cent of pupils got A* to B grades, with a total of 29 A*s, 93 As and 168 Bs.
The highest performers were two sets of siblings – the first being twins Max and Riku Campman who both got 4 A*s.
The Campman twins from Trinity Catholic High managed to get four A* grades each
Their exceptional results mean they will be heading to Cambridge to study computer science and Imperial College London to do aeronautical engineering.
George and Laura Carlisle got A* A, A and A* A B respectively. George is going to Bristol to do medicine and Laura has a place to do physiotherapy at Birmingham.
Sixth form director Margaret Keegan said: “These exam results rank with the best ever for the school. Our students have worked extremely hard and we are extremely proud of them. They deserve their success.”
George and Laura Carlisle did exceptionally well at Trinity
At Woodford County High School it was not just students who had the jitters – teachers were also anxiously awaiting the very first set of results from the new linear A-Level courses.
But coming into school they were delighted to find 76 per cent of pupils got A* to B grades, with 16 per cent bagging A*s.
A total of 45 girls got A* or A grades and six got a clean sweep of A*s across the board.
Five Woodford students are off to Cambridge and Oxford, while 23 have places for medicine and dentistry.
Head teacher Jo Pomeroy said: “These results are to be celebrated.
“The girls have done themselves proud and have very strong foundations on which to build future studies and careers.
“Teachers have worked with enormous focus, skill and professionalism to manage change, to navigate linear syllabus requirements and to deliver completely new courses. Their achievements too shine through these results.”
This year's A-Level students at Bancroft's School in Woodford Green did the best in its history
Bancroft’s were also celebrating their best ever results, with a staggering 37.9 per cent of all grades being A*s.
Just shy of 30 students got three or more A*s with Nivethan Balakulendran and Sayon Uthayakumar getting five each.
Year 13 pupil Ben Dyson was just pleased it was all over, saying: “I woke up at half past four this morning waiting to find out my results. Thankfully I’ve got my place at Warwick.”
Year 13 at Bancroft's
Head teacher Simon Marshall added: “This was an exceptionally hard-working and talented year-group and they have coped admirably with being the first year to experience the new A Levels.
“As guinea pigs for these tougher A Levels, it has been an extremely stressful and uncertain two years for them, and, therefore, their achievements are all the more significant.
“They have been supported by our extremely dedicated and hard-working teachers (for whom these last two years have been no less stressful) who also deserve congratulations for their dedication and inspiration.”
Bancroft's celebrate their best ever results
Have you or someone you know done exceptionally well in their A-Levels?
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