Students at Sexey's School in Bruton have received their GCSE results today (August 12), and among the top performers are former pupils of Evercreech and Ditcheat primary schools.

For the second year running, Year 11 students have not sat national examinations as a result of Covid-19.

Today the school's students were welcomed into school to collect their results, which have been based on teacher assessed grades.

These results continue to reflect Sexey's teaching and learning, and continue a positive trend of outcomes improving over the past three years, building on Sexey's position as third best performing school in Somerset for Progress 8 (2018).

Helen Cullen, head teacher at Sexey's School, said: "I am delighted to celebrate these brilliant results with the Year 11 students.

"Both I and their teachers thank them for their hard work, dedication and resilience during what has proven to be an extraordinary year.

"This group of students have had to manage remote learning, lockdowns and a pandemic while working hard to ensure that they provided the evidence needed for teachers to allocate robust and moderated grades.

"I am so proud of the courage and kindness the Sexey's School community has shown to one another over the last year.

"I know the parents and students will join me in expressing thanks to the incredible teachers at Sexey's School."

Ross Dalzell, deputy head, said: "I'm really proud of the rigorous process with which we have awarded students' grades, and our students rightly deserve to celebrate the grades that they have worked so hard to achieve.

"At Sexey's students sat school-set examinations as they would on a usual year but a reduced number to support student wellbeing. The exams were marked by teachers and moderated internally and externally.

"We used a variety of evidence, based on two years of study, but students were only assessed in May on the work that they had completed."

Top performers include:

• Emily Dillon, who achieved nine Grade 9s, joining Sexey's from Ditcheat County Primary School
• Imogen Barton, who achieved four Grade 9s and five Grade 8s, joining Sexey's from Evercreech Primary School
• Velvet Cook, who achieved seven Grade 9s and two Grade 8s, joining Sexey's from the British International School, Vietnam
• Jemima Sparrow, who achieved six Grade 9s, two Grade 8s, one Grade 7, joining Sexey's from Jerudong International School
• Finlay Wilson, who achieved five Grade 9s, three Grade 8s, one Grade 7, joining Sexey's from Bruton Primary School

Emily said: "It's been such a strange year and I've been so nervous awaiting results today.

"I'm so happy to have got the grades I have and would like to say a huge thank you to all of my teachers for their support and hard work in getting us through this assessment process. I'm looking forward to joining Sexey's Sixth in September and starting A-levels now."

Finlay said: "I've worked really hard this year so I'm absolutely delighted with my results and proud of my progress.

"I'm going to stay at Sexey's for A-levels and will be studying Maths, Further Maths and Physics. I can't wait to get started."

Mrs Cullen said: "We look forward to welcoming back our current Year 11s in September alongside the increased number of external students joining the Sixth Form, making September 2021 our largest A-level intake for the last four years.

"We are delighted that so many students both locally, nationally and internationally are joining Sexey's Sixth as one of the top performing Sixth Forms in the South West."