Pupils and staff at Cardinal Griffin Catholic College in Cannock are, today, celebrating some record-breaking GCSE and BTEC exam results.

After a tumultuous past couple of years, they have triumphed over adversity, resulting in a record number of pupils achieving grade 5 strong passes in both mathematics and English. Overall, 80% of all GCSE grades awarded to Cardinal Griffin pupils were grade 4, or above, equivalent to the old-style C grade at GCSE level, and more than 75% of pupils attained a grade 4 in both English and mathematics: this is a record for the college.

Special commendations go to Annalise Simcox who achieved six grade 9s, three grade 8s and a Distinction* at BTEC, and to Katie Ke who attained seven grade 9s, two grade 8s, one grade 7 and a BTEC Distinction*. Fellow pupils, Shaun Gormley, Ashton Berry and Gorlin Talwar, also achieved a number of GCSE grade 9s and Distinction* results. The results have been truly outstanding, especially given the disrupted learning the pupils have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paying tribute to pupils and staff, Headteacher, Mr. Michael Burrowes, added, “there will be only a few schools in the country who will have performed better this year, in comparison to the last two years of the teacher assigned grades. However, the pupils and staff at the college have achieved this remarkable outcome. The resilience shown by my pupils and staff is inspirational.”