GCSE results 2021: Students at Bay House School and Brune Park School in Gosport celebrate

For the second year, results were affected by the pandemic with teachers using assessed grades instead of exams.

At Bay House School, Flo Browning was among those collecting her results.

The 16-year-old got six 9s, an 8 and two 6s. She will stay on at the sixth form to study maths, further maths, physics and chemistry.

She said: ‘I’m feeling amazing. I didn’t expect to do this well. I found online learning difficult but I knew I had to get on with it if I was going to get good grades like this and I think it’s paid off.

‘The school has been really good. At the beginning it was difficult to get motivated because it was different to anything I had done before. But I got used to it because the lockdowns were so long.’

Jay York, 16, got two 7s, three 6s and three 5s and will study biology, geography, ancient history and psychology at the sixth form.

He said: ‘I am very happy. I got a 4 in my biology mocks and I needed a 6 so I was very nervous about coming in today but I got a 7 which is great.

‘Studying at home was quite weird because we didn’t do exams so I didn’t know what was happening and how it was going to work.

‘The school has been good throughout giving us lots of encouragement.’

Lottie Hall, 16, got three 9s, four 8s, a 7 and a 6. She is going to Barton Peveril College to study musical theatre and psychology.

She said: ‘I’m shocked because I didn’t expect these results. I had a completely different idea in my mind.

‘It’s been difficult because studying at home we couldn’t always ask for help, but the school has been brilliant.’

Sophie Roper, 16, got five 8s and four 7s. She will study biology, chemistry, sociology and psychology at the sixth form.

She said: ‘I’m feeling pretty good because I didn’t expect to do this well. It’s been difficult but I worked well studying at home and the school has been very supportive.’

Students at Brune Park were also breathing a sigh of relief as they celebrated a good set of results.

Megan Walker, 16, got two 9s, five 8s, two 7s and a six. She said: ‘I am very shocked. I was so nervous this morning, I couldn’t breathe. I am very relieved. I didn’t expect to do this well. It’s been very hard. My bubble got put into isolation because someone got covid.

‘There has just been so much uncertainty. But all the hard work has paid off.’

Megan is going to Bay House Sixth Form to study biology, chemistry, sociology and politics.

Matt Ware, 16, got a 9, an 8, six 7s, a 6 and a 4. He said: ‘I’m feeling pretty good. I was concerned about English literature because I missed the tests because of covid as I was in isolation. It’s been weird and harder than usual but I did get these grades and I am pleased with that.’ Matt is going on to study game development at Fareham College.

Charlotte Hawkin, 16, got a 7, four 5s and four 4s. ‘I was so nervous but now I am feeling excited. It’s been hard but the school has been incredible. They did everything that they could to help us.’

Charlotte will study law, politics and sociology at Worthing College.

Joseph Naibaluledu, 16, got an 8, a 7, three 6s and two 5s. He said: ‘It’s been very challenging because we didn’t get face to face teaching but the school helped us.’ He will go on to Fareham College to study level 3 business.

Geoff Walls works across both schools as director of schooling cohort for the GFM. He said: ‘We are really pleased with the efforts of this cohort of students. They have worked really hard through some really challenging times and they have got the results that they deserved.

‘It’s been a real challenge for staff as well. We are really pleased with the way that they responded with the challenges of working through the pandemic and we are happy with the outcome today.’