Despite nearly two years of disrupted education due to the pandemic, Newham’s GCSEs were well above the national average.

By Newham Voices

A young man, eyes wide in shock, opens exam results — Nirjon Islam – happily surprised and shocked by his top marks

Despite nearly two years of disrupted education due to the pandemic, schools across Newham have posted an impressive range of GCSE results placing the borough’s family of schools well above the national average.

The Council says more than 4,600 year 11 pupils across 21 schools in the borough saw a return to pre-pandemic grading, with the provisional results being well above the indicative national average.

The group has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic in terms of anxiety and mental health stresses, and celebrations, surprise and relief were evident as schools across Newham started posting their results.

Andrew Finn, head-teacher of Little Ilford School, said: “It was a busy couple of years for our students who were certainly impacted by the pandemic, as well as strike action earlier this year. However, the students worked extremely hard and today is just a fantastic day to celebrate their hard work.”

St. Bonaventure’s, the Catholic boys’s secondary school in Forest Gate, also announced outstanding results in the GCSE examinations, surpassing last year’s performance, especially in English, Maths, and Science.

“This remarkable achievement is a testament to the commitment, tenacity, and exceptional instruction provided within the school,” said headteacher Chris McCormack.

He said: ““Well done to our students on achieving a great set of results! Their time in school has been unique as we all faced challenging times in education with the pandemic. Working together with our staff, our students have never wavered in their commitment to their studies. They deserve all their successes after all the hard work they have put in.”

The results show continued improvement – not just from 2019 but year on year for the last six years with 84 per cent of students receiving a Good Pass in English and Maths.

Among Newham students there was relief and pride at the results as well as some disappointment, but the mood was generally upbeat.

Nirjon Islam, for example, a year 11 student at Little Ilford School has set his sights on entry to a prestigious university after achieving eight grade 9s and one grade 8.

“I feel in shock. I didn’t believe that I could do this well,” he said. “Obviously during the pandemic we missed a lot of face-to-face learning and I think coursework based subjects in particular, like graphics, were harder to catch up on. But thankfully I’ve achieved results that were beyond my predicted grades and what I thought I could achieve.”

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.