Hard work and the support of the staff at Polam Hall School, Darlington, were some of the reasons given by pupils for their better than expected GCSE results.

Particularly delighted were William Conway and his mum, Claire, as William has been managing a peanut allergy throughout his time at Polam, from which he nearly died when he was five years old.

William Conway with his resultsWilliam Conway with his results (Image: Heather Barron)

Both credited the school for accommodating his needs, going so far as to introducing a nut ban.

Since January, William has been involved in a three-year allergy trial with the RVI hospital in Newcastle, which has resulted in him missing a lot of school in the crucial GCSE year.

Claire said that Principal, Kate Reid, and the whole school had been so supportive while much of his studying had to be done in hospital.

William achieved mostly Grades 7 and 8 in his results, and even managed to include an additional GCSE in Further Maths, with the help of Physics teacher, Dr Gardner.

Bethany Lewis also beat the odds after being diagnosed with a heart condition at 10 days old, which puts limits on what she can do.

She has missed a lot of school over the years, and underwent an operation in April, just before the GCSE exams started.

She still managed to do well, and is looking forward to taking up her place at Houghall College, Durham, to pursue her dream of working with horses.

 She said: “I’m just like anyone else. I’ve just put my condition to one side and said, let’s see what I can do.”

Former head boy and head girl, ThienAnh Diep and Jasmine Larner-Atkinson, have known each other since nursery school, and are delighted with their results. Both are going on to study A Levels at Yarm School.

ThienAnh Diep and Jasmine Larner-AtkinsonThienAnh Diep and Jasmine Larner-Atkinson (Image: Heather Barron)

Teacher, Peter Collings, praised student, Phoenix Gault, who worked exceptionally hard to achieve the highest grade of D2* in Creative imedia – the first pupil to get the top grade since Mr Collings began teaching at Polam in 2019.

Acknowledging the students’ hard work, Vice Principal of Curriculum & Standards, Craig Rees, said: “We were delighted to see so many smiling faces this morning, either through simple relief, or out of joy from achieving beyond what they had hoped for.

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“We are very pleased to see that the progress our students have made since KS2 has improved significantly from last year.”

Principal, Kate Reid, added: “This year’s young people have worked so hard, throughout their school life as well as their exams.

“They have been a joy to have in the school, and will go on to do amazing things. We will miss them.”