STUDENTS at Dame Allan’s Schools are among a small handful across the country who received the highest grades at GCSE.

Whilst nationally just over 700 pupils gained the highest grade of 9 in all subjects, Geordie Cheetham, Jonathon MacDonald and Beau Bissett Cooke made it onto the list from the Newcastle schools. Rhiannon Zhao was among the high achievers too with eight 9 grades, with Alex Strong and Molly Richards both gaining seven 9 grades and an A* in history.

It was a good day all round for the Schools in the first year of the new grading system as 20 per cent of their pupils achieved a level 9 – the national average stood at 4.3 per cent.

Rhiannon, who will study biology, chemistry and further maths at A Level at Dame Allan’s, said: “I guess I was pretty surprised to have done so well, and it’s better than I expected.”

Geordie, who is also staying on at Sixth Form to take French, politics and history, said: “It sounds a bit surreal that we’ve got some of the best grades in the country!”

Students up and down the country have faced an anxious wait about the outcome of the results in the first year since the grading system changed from A*-U to 9-1. But results are slightly up on last year throughout the North East.

Dr John Hind, Principal at Dame Allan’s Schools, said: “The fantastic results are testament to the hard work put in by the students and staff over the course of the past two years.

“We are proud of all of our students and we are delighted that they have got the results their efforts merit.”