GCSE results: Urswick School pupils celebrate their hard work

Urswick School - May Luu 8A*/As (Image: Archant)

64.8 per cent of students achieved 5 of more A* to C grades while 40 per cent achieved five or more A* to C grades including English and maths.

The results dipped at the school, in Paragon Road, Hackney Central for the first time in six years.

Headteacher Richard Brown said: “The school is delighted with the achievements of a large group of our students. Everyone worked hard and deserves these successes, especially as the year group had to sit their GCSEs soon after the tragic death of Shereka Marsh. Shereka’s funeral on May 9 was in the middle of the exam period. It is impossible to quantify what impact this may have had on our young people.

“After five consecutive years of improvement I am disappointed that our headline GCSE results are lower than last year, especially as a week earlier we had excellent A Level results. Urswick remains a successful school with a dedicated staff team. At some point we were going to suffer a setback and unfortunately it has happened this year.”

Urswick School - Oluwatoyin Ademosu 7A*/As (Image: Archant)

Many students achieved excellent results including Senior Prefect, Raymond Oke, with 9A*s or A grades and Dilan Kartal, with 8A* or As among her twelve GCSEs.

Raymond will study A Level chemistry, biology, maths and economics at the school’s Sixth form, which celebrated a 100 per cent pass rate in its first set of A Level results last week, and plans to study accountancy or medicine at University.

He said: “I’m overwhelmed by my results. This is one of the best days of my life. I did better than I expected and it just goes to show that hard work really does pay off.

“I would advise Year 10 students to work hard and they will shock themselves on results day, just like I did today.”

Raymond Oke - 9A*/As (Image: Archant)

Dilan will study A Levels in maths, biology, chemistry and Spanish.

Oluwatoyin Ademosu achieved 7A* or As.

She aspires to be a paediatrician and will study A Level chemistry, biology, psychology and economics.

Oluwatoyin said: “I’m really happy with my results. I put in lots of revision to make sure that I got my target grades.

“I’m the youngest of five so the pressure was on for me to do well. I’ve just phoned my dad and he was so pleased, he was screeching down the phone.”

Another high flyer was deputy Head Boy, Osayande Okuonghae, who achieved 7A* or As amongst his results.

He will go on to study economics, drama, geography and maths at A Level and said: “I’m really proud of myself, especially as I got an A* in additional maths. I put lots of hard work in and it’s shown today.”