Hot on the heels of last week’s excellent A Level results, it was the turn of Year 12 pupils at Limavady Grammar School to celebrate success this week as they received their GCSE results, and they were not to be outdone by their older classmates.  This has proven to be an exceptionally good year at the Grammar with 50% of the 1225 examinations sat resulting in the top A*/A grades and almost 75% of examinations resulting in A*- B grades, this despite the fact that pupils this year sat the new, more rigorous GCSE exams introduced by the government two years ago and examined for the first time this year.

There were many excellent individual performances with an astonishing 44 pupils receiving 7 or more A*/A grades.  Top overall pupils were Labhaoise Blair, Abigail Cocking, Suzanne Day, and Luke McDonnell, each of whom received 9 A* grades and an A, whilst other top achievers were Jack Alcorn, Yuuki Armstrong, Laura Brolly, Adam Buick, Imogen Budworth, Amy Bryson, Dara Collins, Lauren Devlin, James Diamond, Kyle Cochrane, Faye Doorish, James Duke, Bria Hodgkiss, Jessica Kerlin-Jones, Lauren Jones, Aaron Loughery, Lauren Lynch, Kate McAuley, Conor McIlroy-Sanchez, Niamh McCallion, Katrina McCann, Caoimhe McGonigle, Tia McGonigle, Anna McLernon, Caitlin Molloy, Holly Moore, Katherine Morgan, Megan Nelson, Leah Pinches, Abbi Poland, Riley O’Kane, Robyn Quigg, Brian Reilly, Sebastien Rice, Jack Robinson, Alana Smith, Peter Stevenson, Will Thompson and Adele Wallace.

Sixteen year-old pupil Aaron Loughery admitted to feeling “absolutely relieved” when he opened his results envelope.  Aaron intends to return to Sixth Form to study Maths, Physics, Spanish and French.  His friend Laura Brolly was “pleasantly shocked” to receive her results and now intends to return to the Grammar to study Chemistry, RE, English Literature and Health and Social Care.

Limavady Grammar School Principal, Nicola Madden, admitted to being “absolutely delighted” with the results and was eager to congratulate all Year 12 pupils who received their results at the school this week.   “The improvement in grades this year has been exceptional” she commented, “with our students exceeding the key NI grammar benchmark averages.  Indeed, these results are the best the school has achieved in recent years. 100% of all grades at GCSE level were pass or above. In a year where it is harder to achieve the higher grades due to a new grading system, the results really are remarkable.  Over the past number of years, we have approached our teaching in the school differently and we can now see the outcomes of this approach. I would like to pay tribute to the teachers who have worked so hard to enable our students to achieve so highly.  I would also like to thank the pupils for their hard work and congratulate them on their success.  I look forward to seeing what they can achieve in Sixth Form.  Finally, to our parents, thank you for your support. Limavady Grammar is a team where we all play our part to support and challenge our students.  Behind each set of results is an individual story, sometimes of very difficult times for our students.  It is a privilege to be part of that story and assist our young people to reach their full potential”.