HARD work and determination have paid off for thousands of children collecting their GCSE results in York, North and East Yorkshire.

Nationally more than 640,000 GCSE students and more than 390,000 vocational qualifications are being awarded today with the proportion of entries achieving top grades (grade 7 and above) and standard passes (grade 4) consistent with 2019, as grading moves back to pre-pandemic levels.

In York pupils and staff at Millthorpe School were celebrating an excellent set of GCSE results and head Gemma Greenhalgh, said: “We are all incredibly proud of our students. We have been thoroughly impressed by their resilience, dedication and relentless determination to succeed - they are a credit to our school."

At York High School in Acomb, head teacher, Rod Sims said: "There are some excellent results this year to be celebrated and for many pupils their hard work and consistent effort has been rewarded.  Well done for your continued resilience and high aspiration which has resulted in success.  

“People shouldn’t forget how hard it has been for this cohort of pupils who have suffered severe disruption during two years of their education.”

York Press: Pupils getting their GCSE results at York High SchoolPupils getting their GCSE results at York High School (Image: Frank Dwyer)

Meanwhile, at Archbishop Holgate's CE School in Badger Hill overall 86 per cent of all students passed their English GCSE, with 80 per cent of students passing their maths GCSE, with 78 per cent of our students achieving a pass in both English and maths. A superb achievement given the rigour of these qualifications and challenges of the past two years.

Principal Toby Eastaugh said students at Vale of York Academy in Clifton have achieved great success in their GCSEs.

He said: "We are delighted for all our students; these results are the culmination of so much hard work over the past five years.

"Particularly pleasing is to see so many students securing good grades in key subjects that will enable them to transition successfully into the next phase of their education.

"I wish to congratulate all our students, thank parents for their continued support, and all of the staff who work at Vale of York Academy."

Across the country, reflecting the fact that digital is one of the fastest growing industries and contributes significantly to the UK economy, there has been an 13.5 per cent increase in pupils taking computer science since 2019 including more girls. There are similar trends at A level.

GCSE entries to modern foreign languages (MFL) this year increased by 5.1 per cent compared to last year, and 9.2 per cent compared to 2019, with increases in Spanish and French.