HEAD teacher Kieran Kelly is celebrating the ‘phenomenal achievement’ of his GCSE students in this year’s exams.

Mr Kelly leads St Nicholas Catholic High School, where 21 students achieved eight A* to A grades.

“The school is once again absolutely delighted with the performance of its students at GCSE level as it improves on the extremely high standards set last year against a backdrop of a fall in standards nationally,” said Mr Kelly.

“A superb figure of 76 per cent of students gained the key government benchmark figure of 5 A* to Cs, including English and maths.”

Overall, 41 (22 per cent) gained 5 A* to As and 21 students (12 per cent) achieved 8 A* to As.

“All this represents a phenomenal achievement in the current climate, in which there has been an incredibly close scrutiny on GCSE grades, and especially those at the highest level,” said Mr Kelly.

Star performers include Harriet Bailes (12 A*s), Ellen Colgan (10 A*s), Ronan Eves (10 A*s), Victoria Fletcher (9 A*s), Lucas Fisher (8 A*s), Imogen Walker (9 A*s), Thomas Campbell (7 A*s), Georgia Harding (7 A*s) and Imogen Hutchin (7 A*s).

Mr Kelly added: “There is no doubt that students perform so fantastically well at St Nicholas Catholic High School because they respond so well to the outstanding care, guidance and support they receive from the extremely hard-working and dedicated teachers and support staff, along with all the encouragement they receive from home.

“It is the relationship between all members of the school community which guarantees that the challenges laid down by the very high expectations that the school demands are met by these young people.

“Many of these young people will now embark on A-level courses in the school. There are still some spaces in the sixth form, and anyone wishing to join should contact the school as a matter of urgency.”