Woodbridge High School’s headteacher has praised his pupils’ “resilience and strength of character” this year as they received their A Level and BTEC results today.

Steven Hogan, headteacher at the school in St Barnabas Road, Woodford Green, said that no cohort in his 21 years at the school had dealt with such a difficult situation, as exams were disrupted by coronavirus.

He said: “I think that what they have achieved is nothing short of awesome.

“No students that I have known in 21 years at Woodbridge have dealt with so much uncertainty around their crucial exam courses, faced so many exams and assessments, and done so with such resilience and strength of character.

“Given all the disruption that young people in year 13 have faced this year, they deserve nothing less than to go on with confidence to the next stage in their lives, be that university or an apprenticeship.

“Today is about celebrating their achievements, and I am immensely proud of them.”

He said that pupils had been assessed fairly and that their final grades were checked and confirmed by the exam board.

Following the cancellation of exams this year, grades were awarded through a process of teacher assessment, against a national standard and approved and awarded by the exam boards.

Mr Hogan also thanked the teaching and support staff for their efforts.

Ilford Recorder: Susannah Muir, Alice Hockey and Grace Seach receive their gradesSusannah Muir, Alice Hockey and Grace Seach receive their grades (Image: Woodbridge High School)

Among the pupils celebrating today was Decarno Wallace, who achieved grades A*AA in economics, biology and history, and will be going on to Oxford to study history.

Another student, Zaynah Saeed, will be going to UCL to study mathematics, having achieved grades A*A*AA in maths, further maths, physics and product design.

Roman Pereira, who achieved grades A*A*A* in chemistry, maths and physics, will study natural sciences at Cambridge.