By Kelly Eve

Last updated 15:57, Tuesday, 26 August 2008

PUPILS at Longtown’s Lochinvar School collected their GCSE results from the function room of a nearby hotel following the closure of their school.

BLAH VERSION

The school is merging with William Howard School in Brampton from September so students had to collect their results from the Graham Arms Hotel.

Among those collecting their results were twin brothers Ryan and Aaron Whitfield, of Chapelknowe.

Meanwhile, more than 70 per cent of pupils at William Howard School in Brampton got five or more top results.

In Carlisle, there was delight for Rebekah and Sarah Briggs at St Aidan’s School as they tore open their brown envelopes. They both got A*s in PE.

School friend Max Conway, who wants to be a lawyer, got full marks in his two IT papers and celebrated after getting seven A*s, three As and a B.

At nearby Trinity School, Carys and Jessica Wilkinson celebrated after discovering they had both done much better than expected, each getting at least 10 top passes.

Fellow Trinity teenagers Anni and Suzi Styth opened their results together before Suzi rushed back to her job as a hairdresser at La Moda. She immediately began a training course with RWP Training at the English Street salon after sitting her exams earlier this year.

Anni, 16, expects to go into sixth form but for now is allowing her success of getting eight GCSEs to sink in.

At Morton School, more than 40 per cent of students got five or more top GCSEs.

In Dalston, students at Caldew School celebrated getting 25 per cent more A* grades than last year - around 120 in all.

Andy Abernethy, executive head of the two schools, said: “This year Caldew’s brightest pupils achieved a fantastic 25 per cent more A* grades compared to last year.

“They accumulated about 120 between them which is the highest number we have had since the top grade was extended a few years ago.

“Three pupils who made an especially big contribution to this total are Samantha Cawley, Zoe Pearson and Alex Williams who earned all grade A* or A results this summer and between them notched up 24 A* grades.

“We are delighted for them, but also for the many pupils who came close to matching their achievement and for those who whilst not reaching these heights, still achieved their personal best.”

Speaking about Morton’s successes, he added: “We are quietly pleased that this year’s students have done really well given their starting point.

“Their excellent progress results from their hard work, and the efforts of the staff here, and I think show that the improvements we have started at Morton have taken root. This bodes really well for the future.

“We have not quite reached the heady heights of last year’s figures when over 50 per cent achieved the higher grades threshold, but our score of mid-forty percent this year is in excess of the very ambitious target we set ourselves.”

Head boy Ben Murray clinched several A* and A grades and Kimberley Hetherington overcame sight impairment to gain some excellent results.

Nelson Thomlinson School recorded its best results ever (73.9 per cent getting five or more A*-Cs).

The Wigton school was not alone with North Cumbria Technology College (52 per cent), St Aidan’s (48 per cent) and Newman (over 50 per cent) in Carlisle; Appleby Grammar School; Beacon Hill School in Aspatria (51 per cent) and Solway Community Technology College in Silloth all recording their best results ever.

At Austin Friars in Carlisle, a record number – 93 per cent – of students picked up A*s in biology, physics or chemistry. The other seven per cent got A grades.

Students at Solway Community Technology College, Silloth have achieved the best GCSE results the school has ever had. More than 65 per cent of students have achieved five A* to C GCSE grades, smashing the previous record by eight per cent. Every student in Year 11 achieved at least one GCSE with 98 per cent achieving at least five GCSEs.

Students are delighted with their results and there were tears of joy in the school hall as students clamoured to receive their envelope containing the excellent results.

Headteacher Susie Shepherd commented that the results were a testament to the hard work of students, the support of parents and the professional commitment of staff.

She said: “Every student is known as an individual in the school and we offer tailored support to each student. This has made a difference as almost three quarters of the students have beaten their personal targets.”

Seventy-four per cent of students in Eden’s five secondary schools got five top GCSE grades.

Ullswater Community College in Penrith celebrated its fifth annual recordbreaking set of results and at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith, two pupils – Stephanie Baxter and Rebecca Oliver – were among the top 10 per cent in the country from the 69,708 candidates who took PE GCSE with exam body Edexcel.

Headmaster Chris Kirkup also revealed that Chandani Limbu, who could not speak much English when she moved to Cumbria from Nepal with her family two years ago, got nine top GCSEs including As in English literature and religious studies.

Alston headteacher Maurice Peddlety, from Samuel King’s School, was also celebrating the success of some of the youngest GCSE candidates in Cumbria.

Around nine of his year nine pupils had taken GCSEs two years’ early. Meanwhile some of his year 11 pupils were picking up A-level results, again taken early, along with their GCSEs yesterday (THURS) after teachers held back the results released last week to present altogether.

Kirkby Stephen Grammar School’s head of upper school Christine Smallwood praised her students, paying tribute to the outstanding individual performances of Anna Richardson, Samantha Dent and Rachel Huck who each gained six A* and three A grades. Sophie Gelder gained five A* and four grade As while Matthew Cannon gained four A* grades and four As.

Keswick School head Mike Chapman said 78 per cent of his students got five top GCSEs, 24 per cent with A* and A grades.

And it was double delight for at least four sets of twins who collected their results at Cumbrian schools.

Provision figures from the local authority education, from 30 of its 41 secondary schools, show that 65.1 per cent of students have got five top GCSEs with A*-C grades, a figure up six per cent on last year.

Also, the figures for those getting five top results including English and maths is up from 45.7 per cent to 51.2 per cent.