HUNDREDS of teenagers across the Forest and Wye Valley were celebrating their GCSE results which were released last Thursday (August 23).

The head of Dene Magna at Mitcheldean, Stephen Brady, said: pupils had achieved the school’s best GCSE results ever.

He said: “Our students maintained their excellent results of 72.4 per cent which was up on last year.

“With the new grading system in place, we are delighted that 27 grade nines have been awarded, including some students who achieved five or six grade nines.

“Best of all has been the progress made by students of all abilities, many of whom have achieved top grades when they came to us below the national average.

“An important extra feature of this year group is that 25 of them did not start their secondary education at Dene Magna, and have gone on to succeed with us.”

The exams at Five Acres High at Berry Hill came at the end of the first full year for the school as part of the Greenshaw Learning Trust, and there were “some startlingly good outcomes,” said headteacher Ben Parnell.

English results at grade four moved up from 73 per cent last year to 85 per cent, with grade five up to 69 per cent from 55 per cent.

In Maths, 80 per cent achieved the benchmark grade four which was 21 per cent up on 2017 and grade five improved from 33 per cent to 50 per cent.

Mr Parnell added: “We can officially say that we are a high performing school, with these results being significantly above national averages.

“When I arrived here I shared my vision that I wanted Five Acres High School to be the best school in the country, and we have taken a massive step towards that this year. “

Head of the Dean Academy in Lydney, Tom Beverage, said the school made improvements on a number of headline measures, with the percentage of students achieving standard passes in both Maths and English increasing.

The percentage of students achieving two science grades at grade four or above increased by more than five per cent and the percentage of grades seven to nine – A or A* has increased, and the number of students achieving the English Baccalaureate has also increased.

Mr Beverage said: “The progress that a number of our students have made irrespective of their ability or starting point is very pleasing.”

Pupils at Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools achieved outstanding results in this year’s GCSE and IGCSE examinations.

Despite the uncertainty of the grading changes, a total of 71 per cent of all grades were A* to A (or 9-7 on the new scale) at Monmouth School for Boys, compared to 61.9 per cent in 2017, and 98 per cent were A* to C (or 9-4).

Seven pupils achieved the highest grade across all their subjects and over 30 per cent of grades, awarded on the reformed 9-1 grading, were the coveted 9.

Keen rower Joseph Harrison, from Ross-on-Wye, who achieved the highest grade in 10 subjects, said: “I put a lot of work in and decided to treat my mock exams as the real thing to get a benchmark.

“I am eventually hoping to read Classics at Oxbridge, so I will be studying Maths, Further Maths, Latin and Ancient Greek at A level.”

Coleford duo Anan Kuleindiren and Tomos Brenan and Lydney’s Kyah Meek also recorded a remarkable haul of 10 A*s or a 9.

There was “success across the curriculum” at Monmouth Comprehensive, said headteacher Vaughan Davies.

More than 40 per cent of WJEC science grades were starred As or As with the proportion of top grades being 52 per cent in History, 54 per cent in Religious Studies, 62 per cent in Music, and 73 per cent in Information Technology.

At John Kyrle School in Ross, 50 per cent of pupils gained “strong” passes at grade five with 66 per cent gaining the standard grade four – and there were pass rates of 74 per cent for both English and maths.

Headteacher Nigel Griffiths said: “This has, once again, been a hugely successful year for us. It confirms the strong culture and highly-effective teamwork at school and, additionally, our all-important relationships with parents, carers and the wider community.”

Chepstow School was “thrilled” with “outstanding” results in the challenging new GCSE exams.

Some 84 per cent passed combined science and 67 per cent gained the core qualifications of English, Maths and Science.

It was also the first time pupils sat the Welsh Baccalaureate skills challenge with every one of them passing.

Nearly a quarter of those sitting the exams achieved five or more A or starred A grades and 10 per cent got the top grades in eight or more subjects.

Chair of governors Craig Bridgeman said: “Once again I am delighted with the GCSE results at the school.

“This performance, hard work and outcome will prepare our young learners for the next stage of their careers and progression routes.”

A “strong” set of results at Wyedean School in Sedbury saw 61 per cent of students gain grade fours in five subjects including English and Maths while 14 per cent achieved the top grade nine.

A quarter of students achieved grades seven to nine with a significant proportion coming from success in languages.

Senior vice-principal Gwennan Jeremiah said: “There is so much to be proud and positive about these results and what it means for our students after their hard work across all subjects”