There were scenes of celebration this morning with students jumping for joy after picking up their long-awaited GCSE results.

It is the first year students sat the new style GCSE exams which experts say are the toughest since the late 1980s.

Maths, English language and English literature are now graded from 1 to 9, with 9 being the highest grade instead of an A*.

Over half of students who took triple science at Roding Valley High School in Alderton Hill, Loughton achieved A and A* grades which head of school Sharon Jenner said she is “really, really pleased with”.

One of the top achievers was Jamie Henderson who achieved As in physics, chemistry and biology as well as a grade 8 in maths.

The teenager who plans to study physics at sixth form college said being confused by the complex subjects didn’t scare him in the slightest.

Although being attentive in class and plenty of revision time were obviously needed, Jamie took somewhat of an unconventional route to achieving top marks.

“My friends and I found science videos on Youtube and watched them,” he said.

“It was confusing but I love being confused.

“I am really happy with all my results. My biggest surprise was maths which I got an 8 in.

“It was quite difficult but I had an idea of what I needed to do to prepare.”

Jamie’s beaming parents looked on as he was congratulated by his fellow classmates.

His father Richard was preparing himself for the long drive to Bournemouth to celebrate his son’s achievements.

Richard said: “I am very proud of Jamie. We are taking him away to Bournemouth now to celebrate with a bottle of champagne on the beach.”

Jamie’s step-parent Bobbie added: “Jamie is naturally a very bright student.”

Kara Pleasance was another top performer, scooping up three 8 grades and six A grades.

She said: “Looking forward to the end result kept me motivated since I started revising last year.

“I am quite surprised especially getting an 8 in maths because I didn’t do so well in the mock exam.”

There was also cause for celebration over at Higham’s Park School in Handsworth Avenue where students packed into the assembly hall to hug each other.

Miles Carey who achieved a 9 in maths, an 8 in English and A* grades in triple science, said he was glad he could put his mind to rest about the maths exam.

He said: “The maths papers were really hard and it was my biggest worry because I thought I had got it wrong.

“The specimen papers were so different from the exam but I reached by expectations.

“I felt quite confident coming in to pick up my results this morning because I think I knew I had put in the amount of revision needed. I studied up to four hours a day.”

Gillian Mwaramba looked pleased with herself after achieving a 9 in Maths and five A* grades.

“I rang my mum and she was screaming on the phone,” she said.

“I started preparing the first day back in January. Towards February I started picking up the pace and I was working pretty hard and my teachers said not to do too much so early on because otherwise you will burn yourself out.”

Isabel Pughe, who received a grade 8 in both maths and English and four A* grades, said: “I didn’t want to cram it so I did lots of little bits when it came to studying.”

Over at Heathcote School in Normanton Park, Chingford outgoing head teacher Zoe Cozens said she was pleased to be leaving “on a very good note”.

This year saw students achieve the school’s best ever results, with 83 per cent passing English language and English literature and 76 per cent passing in maths.

Meanwhile, Epping Forest College got top marks with 98.7 per cent pass rate and a remarkable 98.7 per cent pass rate.

Achievers include Dennis Spark, who got a Level 2 in public services and will carry on studying Level 3 at the college.

Studying Level 2 Public Services  — achieved his Grade C in English and is staying at EFC to study at Level 3.

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