Cynon Valley youngsters make the grade with superb GCSE results
The wait is finally over for students across the Cynon Valley who found out their GCSE results on Thursday morning. Celebrating students from the valley’s four secondary schools – Aberdare Community School, St John Baptist Church in Wales High School, Mou
STAR student Sian Russell led the way at Aberdare Community School, with a sensational 10 A* grades and she even had time to secure a distinction in additional maths.
She’ll be returning to school in September to tackle A-levels in maths, physics and chemistry.
She said: “I’m so happy. Really, really proud. I don’t know how to explain it. I thought the exams had gone well.
“I haven’t really thought about results day until a week ago. I’m hoping to do maths, chemistry and physics next year, and these results should be good enough to do that.”
Stephanie Pugh also recorded a fantastic set of results with three A*s and six As. She said: “I thought I’d get a few Bs and Cs, so I’m delighted. I actually didn’t think too much about today – I pushed it to the back of my mind. But I’m relieved now and I can enjoy my day.”
Cieren Morgan (two A*s, five As, two Bs, one C) was delighted with his results.
He said: “It’s brilliant – I’m so happy with my grades. I worked so hard in geography and history, which I got A*s in, and maths too. I’m quite shocked. I was coming in this morning thinking the exams were really hard. But I’m so happy.”
Meanwhile, Josh Swift (two A*s, four As, two Bs) was also one of the school’s top pupils.
He said: “I’m over the moon, really. I’m glad I’ve done well in English and maths because I want to be a teacher.”
Owen Waghorn, who had two A*s and five As among his results, said he wasn’t too nervous.
He added: “I thought the exams went pretty well, but they were a long time ago now. I can’t really describe the feeling, but I’m delighted the hard work has paid off.”
There was also a great achievement from Weili Pan, who only joined the school in November having moved to South Wales from China – with very little spoken English.
He had two A*s, two As, one B, one C, and his C in English language was a superb achievement.
He said: “I had learned a little English in China. It was hard coming over. Education is very different here compared to China. The teachers here were very nice to me. I learned English pretty fast – I’ve made a lot of friends and that’s helped.
“I was OK coming here today – not too nervous. I wasn’t sure it was the day we picked up the results – I thought it was just a day we had to come in. I’m really happy though – I’ll enjoy these results.”
Also among the top students were Kyle Thomson (five A*s, three As, two Bs and a distinction in A-level maths) and Luke Evans (three A*s, five As).
Sue Davies, head teacher of the school, said: “I am delighted that the vast majority of our children have achieved the Welsh Baccalaureate in our first year of offering this to year 10 and 11 students.
“It is also wonderful to see children gaining so many A*s and A grades.
“We believe we have had more A* and A grades than last year, and shows that Aberdare pupils can achieve at the highest level.”