Kadir Ayhan, Alexandra Jenkins-Eleftheriou, Shobon Roy, Umar Massoun Fernandez at City of London Academy Highgate Hill

School pupils were celebrating their GCSE results in Islington this morning, as they became the first group in three years to collect their grades having sat exams.

Thousands across the borough nervously opened envelopes to find out how their efforts had gone after doing exams in May and June. In the Covid-hit last two years, 15 and 16 year olds have been given grades by their teachers based on what they thought they would have got, if they had sat exam papers.

Nationally grades dropped compared to 2021, but teenagers gathered at City of London Academy in Highgate Hill this morning for their results buzzing with nervous excitement.

Maths whizz Maya-Rose Komolafe, 16, scored top grades in maths and further maths with two 8s – the equivalent of A*s in the previous grade boundaries before they were reformed in 2017.

Maya-Rose Komolafe

“I feel okay, I worked very hard. It was difficult, there was a large portion of school time in quarantine, so I did the best I could,” she said.

Ms Komolafe said she wants to be a “commercial airline pilot” will be studying maths, economics and geography at A-level.

Alexandra Jenkins-Eleftheriou said she was surprised by her maths grades. “My maths was so much higher than I expected: I was expecting a four and I got an eight! I’m really happy, and I got what I needed to get into sixth form.”

Principal at Highgate Hill, Prince Gennuh said: “We are delighted with the incredible sets of results achieved by all students.
“They have worked extremely hard; the challenges of the pandemic have continued but our students have shown a huge amount of resilience.”

Boys celebrate at Central Foundation Boys’ School

Other City of London Corporation-run academies whose students got their grades were Islington in Prebend Street, where 72 per cent of Year 11 students got English and Maths grades 4 and above, and Highbury Grove which had 62 per cent.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson school in Donegal Street marked its best ever results. Its grades were above the national average, with 87 per cent and 83 per cent getting grade 4 or above in English and maths.

Nearly half of its students got grades 7 or higher in three or more subjects. Headteacher Sarah Beagley said: “These are our best ever results with students achieving phenomenally well across years 9, 10 and 11. We have always been determined not to allow the effects of Covid to stop our students from realising their potential.”

Pupils at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson with headteacher Susan Service, Islington education chief Cllr Michelline Ngongo (left, centre) and head of children’s service Jon abbey (right, centre) [Credit: Stephen Bainbridge]

Over at Central Foundation Boys’ School, 72 per cent of students got a grade 5 or better, equivalent to the old B grade.

Reflecting on their grades against the disruption of the pandemic, headteacher Jamie Brownhill said: “I am sure that the character that the students have developed and displayed through this period will serve them well as they embark upon the next stage of their lives.”

St Aloysius College’s assembly hall was buzzing and cheers went up to celebrate results including two boys, Jabir Hussain and Mayan Maheswaran, who both got ten grade 9s.

The amount of grade 7-9s was at 34 per cent, nine percent higher than the national average for both genders.

Headteacher Paula White said: “These young men have done us proud. Despite two lockdowns our GCSE pupils have proved themselves to be highly resilient.”