STUDENTS at Abergavenny's King Henry VIII School have achieved outstanding results in this year's GCSE level examinations.

This year's results beat the previous highest figures that had been achieved in 2010.

A total of 190 students in Year 11 sat the GCSE examinations and 68 percent of them achieved five or more at Grades A* to C which is an improvement of four percent on the same figure for 2010.

A total of 90 percent of students achieved five or more GCSEs at Grades A* to G, an improvement of three percent on 2010 and in the Core Subject Indicator, the number of students achieving at least a grade C in English, mathematics and science, the figure was 53 percent, which is the same as 2010.

This is the second year in a row that the school has produced the best results at GCSE in the last ten years.

The school is proud of the achievements of all its students, but highlighted that there were some outstanding individual performances from Year 11 students that are worthy of recognition: Gareth Brinn - eight A*, two A; Hannah Miles - seven A*, three A, one B; Zoe Bradley - seven A*, two A; Zoe Jofeh - seven A*, two A; David Morgan - seven A*, two A; Charlotte Deering - four A*, five A; Alexander Williams - four A*, four A, one B; Owen Haslegrave - four A*, three A, two B; Emily Jones - three A*, seven A; Jennifer Hawkins - three A*, six A; Rhiannon Jones - three A*, five A, two B; Ffion Nelmes - two A*, seven A, one C; Joe Atkinson - two A*, six A, two B; Joseph Hayward - two A*, six A, one B; Artur Gemes - three A*, two A, two B, three C; Krishan Ghandi - one A*, six A, two B and

Ned Bramley - seven A, two B.

Headteacher, Nicholas Oaten said: "These results, together with the tremendous A level results last week, clearly show that great things are happening at King Henry VIII School. "We are delighted with the success of all our students and recognise the effort and commitment shown by both the staff and the students in achieving such a pleasing set of results.

"We are confident that as a result of this success large numbers of students will be returning to the Sixth Form to take advantage of the excellent teaching for Post-16 students provided by the school. We share in the pride of the parents who have worked in partnership with the school and supported their children in helping to produce these excellent results."

CRICKHOWELL High School is delighted with the outstanding examination success of students in Year 11 this year.

A total of 88 percent of students met the Level two threshold of achieving five A* to C grades or their equivalent, which is an increase of 11 percent on the school's 2010 results.

A total of 71 percent of students achieved the level two threshold including English and maths, again this is an improvement on last year and over 22 percent of all grades were A* and A. Many students surpassed their targets and no students left Crickhowell High School without qualifications, with 99.2 percent of them achieving at least five GCSE passes at A* to G.

We are particularly pleased with the number of students returning to our thriving Sixth Form and the significant increase in new students joining us. Our expectations for all are very high and we have every confidence they will build upon their superb achievements at GCSE.

Jackie Parker, Headteacher commented: "The results at Crickhowell High School are again superb following last week's excellent A-Level results. They reflect the continuing drive and effort of staff and students working together to constantly improve performance.

One of the greatest pleasures we have as teachers is to see our students gain success and the recognition of all their hard work after five years of studying at High School."

THERE have been some outstanding GCSE results for Brynmawr Foundation School.

Headteacher James Retallick congratulated the pupils and staff on all their hard work, dedication and commitment, and added: "Once again pupils of Brynmawr Foundation School have produced outstanding GCSE results. The quality of the grades has risen to record levels this academic year seeing some of the best value added results the school has seen.

"Students and staff are delighted with the results achieved. It is particularly pleasing to see that such a high number of our Year 11 students are coming back to the school to study A-levels next year together with a high number of students from other areas of Blaenau Gwent and beyond."

Chairman of the school governors, Councillor Lyn Elias praised the performance and said: "The results again this year are an excellent achievement for the school, the students, staff and parents.

"They show the quality of teaching, commitment and support students have received to achieve these record results. Congratulations to all our students on their results today."

LOCAL students studying at Monmouth Comprehensive School helped boost the results across all subjects and courses to become their highest ever.

A total of 73 percent of all GCSE grades achieved were at A* to C, with over 42 percent of these gaining the highest two grades.

In addition, the school offered for the first time the prestigious Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification to all students in Year 11 and over 80 percent of these students achieved the award, which is equivalent to three further GCSEs Amongst the overwhelming majority of students who achieved superb results was Merlin Gable from Grosmont with 11 A*s and 1 A.

Merlin was joined by Francesca Davies from Abergavenny; Rosa Hanson from

Raglan; Max Gow-Smith from Usk; Ted Senior from Raglan and Rowan Carbury from Usk all of whom received a mixture of A*s and As in the double figures.

The school's acting joint headteachers Tim Bird and Vaughan Davies, praised students and staff for all their hard work and determination in making sure that every child has the opportunity to achieve their very best.

STUDENTS across the county were celebrating their best ever GCSE results with 68.3 percent of entries being graded at A* to C and achieving an overall pass rate A* to G of 98.7 percent.

GCSE results from the WJEC, originally known as the Welsh Joint Education Committee, show continual improvement. The number of students achieving the high pass rate with the percentage of students achieving A* to C grades increasing by 2.8 percent from 2010 results, giving a continued improvement for this key indicator of 5.5 percent since 2009. 

The percentage of pupils achieving the Level two threshold, giving access to advanced level courses, has improved by 4.8 percent to almost 70 percent.

County Councillor Liz Hacket Pain, cabinet member for children and Young People said: "I am delighted with this further improvement in performance and would like to thank all those involved in achieving it, particularly teachers, parents and especially the young people who sat their GCSE's this summer. 

"I am aware that these results will increase the range of choices available to our young people and, as a result, numbers within our 6th forms will continue to grow."

Andrew Keep, chief education officer added: "I would like to pass on my congratulations to this cohort of Monmouthshire students for the success they have achieved.  They will know the debt that they owe to the staff who have worked alongside them during the past two years and I would like to thank them in particular for their contribution to these pleasing results."

YET again Powys pupils have achieved excellent GCSE results in the 2011 WJEC examinations.

Almost seven out of 10 results (69 percent) are at grades A*-C and one in five (20 percent) are at the highest grades A*-A, maintaining the excellent performance of Powys schools. Results at grades A*-C have decreased marginally (by 0.1 percent ) from 2010 as have results at the higher grades A*-B.

The percentage of grades A*-C in Powys is nearly three percent higher than in Wales as a whole and the overall pass rate of grades A*-G in Powys is similar to last year's level at just over 99 percent, almost one percent higher than in Wales.

This year's results at the highest grades A*-A at 20 percent are almost one percent more than in Wales as a whole. The percentage of results at grades A*-B at 40 percent is also nearly one percent higher than in Wales.

Little change is expected in the overall figures when results from other Examination Boards are added as approximately 90 percent of examination entries are with WJEC.

These results maintain the high standards seen in previous years' performance and remain consistently above the all-Wales averages. The overall pass rate in Powys at a little over 99 percent is also slightly higher than the corresponding figure for England.

In addition, many pupils have also achieved equivalent qualifications in vocational subjects.

Councillor Stephen Hayes, Cabinet Member for Learning and Leisure, said, "Our warm congratulations go to all pupils for achieving such excellent results which demonstrate their great commitment and hard work.

"This is made possible by the support they receive from dedicated teaching staff in all our schools and also from their families."

PUPILS in Blaenau Gwent are celebrating the county borough's best ever set of GCSE results.

The number of pupils gaining five or more A* - C grades has exceeded the 50 percent barrier – rising to 54 percent.

The overall number of entries gaining A* - C grades now stands at 61.5 percent - an increase from 59.1 percent in 2010 and the overall entries gaining A* - G grades is up to 97.6 percent from 97.4 percent.

In schools across Blaenau Gwent, pupils achieved a higher number of the top of A* and A grades (12.4 percent) and in two schools pupils achieved as many as nine A* grades.

The number of pupils achieving at least one grade A* - C is up on last year by 2.3 percent to 78.9 percent and the number of pupils achieving at least one grade A* - G is also up to 93 percent.

In addition - the Average Wider Point Score is up on last year and set to increase with the addition of Welsh Baccalaureate and Key Skills. This has gone up from 310 to at least 325.

Sylvia Lindoe, Director of Education and Leisure at Blaenau Gwent Council said, "I'm extremely pleased that the GCSE results for pupils in Blaenau Gwent continue to improve. I am so proud of all our pupils and thanks to school staff and governors for their part in helping to achieve this great set of results. Thanks also to the parents and families for their invaluable support.

"These results clearly demonstrate the commitment of all our school based staff, governors, and the local authority to improve educational achievements year on year and to work together to provide the best education services for children and young people – well done to everyone.

"Here in Blaenau Gwent we are committed to driving forward educational improvements and we all have an important role to play in the ongoing work to raise standards.

"Our pupils have shown today that they have the potential to achieve what they want in life and I wish them all the very best for the future."