THE headteacher of a Billericay secondary school where a student tragically passed away has praised his “fantastic pupils” for supporting each other to secure top GCSE results.
Freddie Coleman was in Year 11 at Mayflower High School when he died last November after being hit by a car as he travelled to school.
As a result, the school and his class-mates lost “four to six weeks” of education because they were grieving.
Despite the tragedy, headteacher Damian Lee has been left immensely proud of his Year 11 pupils after they secured an increase in the number of students achieving Grade 7s or above.
Mr Lee, who took over the school last June in the wake of a ‘Requires Improvement’ Ofsted rating, said: “It was impossible to predict the impact and the proudest thing from this first year is how our pupils pulled together.
“They were resilient and their willingness to support each other emotionally and academically and come out with these results goes to show what a great year they are.
“We lost four to six weeks of good quality learning because the school was grieving. It affects us in different ways. But collectively, all the students supported each other in such a fantastic way.
“We still did the mocks two weeks after and it felt it was about supporting them in the right way.
“I am glad we made the decision, and I am proud of how they worked with each other.”
Mayflower wasn’t alone in achieving good results, with the Billericay School lauding the best exam figures in its history.
The impressive achievement saw 76 per cent of all results at Grade 4 or above, eight per cent above the national average. Twenty-five per cent of all results were Grade 7 or above, four per cent above the national average, and 94 Grade 9 - equivalent to an A* - marks were given to students.
Woodlands School, in Woodlands Approach, also celebrated results that saw an improvement in top grades this year. Headteacher David Wright said: “We are really proud of our Year 11 youngsters. They have overcome the challenges of starting secondary school during the pandemic and having their first two years of secondary education disrupted, resulting in improvements in all key headline measures for our school.”
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