There were happy faces and cheers of excitement at Deer Park in Cirencester yesterday morning as pupils received their GCSE results.

For many pupils their commitment and hard work proved to be wise investments and there were some stunning individual successes.

41 pupils achieved five or more of the top grades 9-7, with 19 pupils attaining seven or more and, within this, some had a full complement of 9-8s.

Headteacher Chiquita Henson said: "It was an absolute privilege to hand out the results to individual candidates.

"We could feel the tension which clearly reflected their anticipation.

"Many had worked exceptionally hard and rose to the challenge inherent in the new GCSEs and received the credit they deserved.

"Others had been able to turn it round following their mock exams and were equally delighted with the progress they had made!"

Overall, 80 per cent of pupils secured five or more standard passes, grades 9-4.

72 per cent of pupils secured five or more standard passes including English and maths.

22 per cent of all grades awarded were the top grades 9-7.

Chiquita Henson continued: "There were several whoops of excitement as the pupils learnt they had done enough, and more, to secure their places at Cirencester College or other Sixth Form providers and characteristically our pupils provided each other with support and recognition.

"Taking a break in their summer holidays too, were many of their teachers who were in school to celebrate our candidates’ successes.

"One parent commented how nice it was to see the support from staff continue and praised the rapport they clearly have with the children.

"We are delighted that so many of our pupils in our ‘Class of 2019’ have done themselves, their parents and the school proud and they leave Deer Park equipped with the resilience and resourcefulness required to be successful independent life-long learners.

"I am very proud of our pupils’ achievements and extremely grateful to our strong staff team and their unwavering commitment to ensuring all of our pupils can thrive and progress onto the next stage of their learning.

"We look forward to learning how they have built on these strong foundations when we catch up with them again on Thursday, November 7 2019 at our annual Key Stage 4 Celebration of Achievement. We wish them all every success in the future.

"Commendably our pupils who also sat their GCSEs in statistics and religious studies this summer while in Year 10, also achieved success and are deserving of praise and our congratulations.

"Furthermore, we were thrilled to learn the outcomes for pupils in our ‘Class of 2017’ who received their A level results last week."