There were some delighted smiles, celebrations with friends and emotional calls home as TCA secured its best set of GCSE results to date.

Here’s what the students are planning next:   

Louise Plater (left) achieved 9s in chemistry and maths, along with four 8s, two 7s and a 6. She said: ‘It feels like these are someone else’s results! I was shocked and happy when I opened them. I wanted to do well for my teachers, too. I’m staying on at TCA to do A Levels in maths, further maths and psychology.’

Anna Ivaskevica notched up six 9s in biology, chemistry, physics, history, maths and English literature

as well as two 8s. She said: ‘I’m really excited because they’re much better than my mock results. I’m most proud of the chemistry and history grades because I found those the hardest.’

Callum Sturman picked up three 8s in chemistry, maths and physics, along with a 7 in biology, a 6 in geography, a 5 in English language and a 4 in English literature. He said: ‘I never expected to get an 8 in physics - I’ve improved my mark by two grades. I had a lot of confidence going in to the exams because of all the revision sessions the teachers put on. We’d do a full day of revision the day before an exam to go over everything. That got you in the right mind-set.’

More success stories from Thomas Clarkson Academy will be posted tomorrow. Once again, a final congratulations to all our students celebrating their GCSE passes today.