Durrington High School students arrived at school a little nervously this morning but the nerves soon turned to joy as they collected their well deserved results, the pride and relief evident in their faces. It was a wonderful morning as staff congratulated students; beaming smiles all round.
This year, following the cancellation of exams, grades were awarded through a process of teacher assessed grades, against a national standard and approved and awarded by the exam boards. Steph Temple, Assistant Headteacher who has worked tirelessly with this year group to ensure they were awarded the grades they deserve.
We are extremely proud of the whole year group. The hard work and dedication they have shown in their exams and assessments this year means they fully deserve the outstanding grades they are receiving today. It’s a joy to see so many delighted students, especially after the difficulties they have faced in the past 18 months.
Last summer it seemed unlikely that our students would face further difficulties and disruptions in the year ahead. But, during their final year, year 11 students nationally had to contend with Covid-19 measures, two lock-downs over the GCSE course, self isolations and some contracting Covid-19 or their family members being ill with Covid-19. Our year 11 adapted remarkably, supported by the amazing dedication and care from staff and families.
Teamwork runs through all that we do at Durrington and is key to our sustained success. I am so proud of our brilliant students and staff. Our students dug deep and worked so hard, learned new skills and had to adapt to situations never faced before; our staff with them every step of the way, going above and beyond to enable each student to put themselves in the strongest position.
Individual congratulations go to the following 10 Durrington students who have achieved exceptional results; being awarded the top grade, a 9 in the majority of their subjects:
Robert McDonald, Serena Fellingham, Jessica Townson, Harvey Smith, Evie Thoms, Alex Walker, Abdulmatin Lawal, Adam Beardmore, Benjamin Westwood and Jeremy Casse.
Serena, who has earned a scholarship to study English Literature and Language, sociology and media at Lancing College, said ‘ I’m slightly in shock, I’m really just so, so happy and very proud.’ Robert was ‘extremely relieved’ and ‘very proud’ of his results and they set him in great stead for achieving his dream job of becoming a journalist. Harvey was also proud and ‘very, very, incredibly happy’ with his results and is excited to start his next chapter studying musical theatre at Worthing College. Jeremy, who also heads to Worthing College in September to study biology, chemistry and English Literature, and plans to work with animals and travel the world in the future, said during his time at Durrington High he had learnt ‘you’re never on your own, friends and teachers are so important, they are there for a reason.’
We are always proud of our students but this year group has been required to overcome additional barriers, which were beyond their control. They deserve all the happiness and success ahead of them as they move on to the next stage of their journey.
