Bayside and Westside hail solid grades and student resilience

Headteachers from Westside and Bayside schools praised this year’s GCSE students on their results, highlighting not just consistent academic performance but also the progress of those who overcame personal challenges.

Both schools emphasised that success was measured not only by grades – students in both schools achieved an overall pass rate of 99% - but also by growth and determination.

Dr Sonia Lopez, headteacher at Westside, told the Chronicle that she could see the positive impact of staff dedication and family support, and the achievements of many students who overcame personal adversities within this year’s results.

“This year group’s achievements are as diverse as they are,” she said.

“From lively debates in the classroom to laughter in the playgrounds and the quiet determination during revision, we’re celebrating not just their grades, but their futures and the confidence you see here today.”

While the results have remained consistent with last year, she said that the school is particularly pleased with wider context.

“We’re seeing a lot of value-added progress. There are so many success stories. We’re not just looking at grades, but at how each individual has worked hard and, in some cases, overcome significant adversities,” she said.

“Some students have excelled against the odds, and that’s the most we can ask of anybody.”

Looking ahead, the school is excited about the expanding pathways available to students.

In addition to traditional A-levels, the local college and a new training centre are offering a wider range of vocational courses and apprenticeships.

“The Careers Centre is now offering courses in carpentry, plumbing, and other trades that are in high demand in Gibraltar. Students can step right into these fields and even start earning as they continue learning,” said Dr Lopez.

Westside student Lucia Hernandez expressed excitement and relief after receiving her exam results, which included top grades in Spanish, Religion, and History. She achieved a 9 in Spanish and Religion and an 8 in History. These results will enable her to go to study A-levels in history, English literature, and Spanish.

“I've done really well. I'm over the moon. I was ecstatic this morning, really nervous, trying to open the results,” she said.

“What a relief, because I really did work hard, and that hard work paid off.”

Marcus Martinez was also pleased with his exam results, which exceeded his expectations.

“It was better than I expected. I came out of the exam hall thinking a certain thing, my predictions after every exam. And I've been pleasantly surprised. I've done really well,” he said.

He plans to pursue A-levels in Maths, History, Music, and Economics to keep his options open and may consider dropping one subject depending on the course intensity.

His long-term goal is to obtain a degree in PPE (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics), which he finds broad and versatile, enabling him to explore diverse career paths.

Finlay Bradby was very pleased with his exam results and got 7s, 6s and 5s. He acknowledged the effort required for studying and felt good about his achievements.

He will next go on to study for his A-levels in Maths, Psychology, and PE, and he hopes to get “something in the sports realm” with sports and psychology and “I like maths anyway so I will just do that,” he said.

James Olivero said: “I'm really happy with how I've done. I think I could have done a bit better, but, you know, I'm more than happy with all the grades.”

At present he aims to carry on to A-level, with the thoughts of doing Physics, Maths, maybe Spanish,” but it's all subject to change. I'm still thinking about it.”

He has until August 29 to make his decision.

Milo Nouar said he was feeling both “overwhelmed and overjoyed” after receiving his results.
“Honestly, I was so, so, so stressed before, but now, all my hard got paid off and, overall, I'm proud of my cohort and all my friends. They did excellently as well. I'm just so happy for everyone above myself really,” he said.

He will now go on to study for his A-levels in Physics, Maths, and Biology, with the ultimate goal of attending Imperial College London to pursue aerospace engineering.

Gaynor Lester, headteacher at Bayside, said her students have performed exceptionally well, surpassing expectations, and gave credit a new revision approach and program implemented this year.

The value-added element, which measures the improvement of students' grades, has been particularly successful, with many students moving from borderline grades to higher ones.

“Many of them have done much better than we expected, which obviously is very pleasing for us. We tried a new revision approach this year. We had a new program, and I think it's gone really, really well,” she said.

“So those people that were on the cusp have gone over. So if they were on a three, they got a four, which is obviously great.”

“Or if they were on a one, they got a two that yeah, so that's gone very, very well.”

The pass rate for the school was 99% which she said was better than previous.

But, as she is not a fan of pass rates and statistics, she said her opinion of the pass rate is “not going to change just because it's better.”

“I focus on whether they they've done as well or better than expected. For me, the value added is what's important to me, and it looks already as if has worked really, really well,” she said.

One student who has worked hard out of the many is Christian Chang Chiplona who said he unexpectedly excelled in his Maths exam and was very happy as a result.

This result allows him to pursue A-Levels in Arts, English Literature and Physical Education. His ultimate aim is to obtain sufficient grades for university with the dream of attending a “swim school” in universities such as Surrey, Swansea and Loughborough.

Toby Simons is pleased with his GCSE results, particularly his grade in Spanish, which allows him to pursue his desired A-level subjects, Biology, Chemistry, and Spanish.

“I got a 9 in Spanish, which is what I was hoping for most, and the rest of my grades are pretty good as well,” he said.

He aims to study biochemistry at university, possibly with an element in Spanish, and aspires to a career in biochemistry research.

Lauryn Zarb also expressed her happiness about achieving the grades she needed to pursue A-levels, particularly in Maths where she exceeded expectations by scoring a 6, significantly higher than her predicted 4s.

“I'm feeling pretty happy. I'm happy I got the grades I needed to go into A-levels and do the course I want to do,” she said.

“I am pleased with Maths, because I was predicted fours for the two years, and I got 6.”

She added that both her parents and her teachers were really happy with her work to get that grade.

She plans to study Biology, Chemistry, and English A-levels, with aspirations to study neuroscience at university and potentially pursue a career in research.

Jaynne Robba will head off to the Gibraltar College this coming academic term to continue her studies and, in the meantime, is celebrating getting her GCSE in Spanish.

Jaelene Zarb was delighted to discover she passed her Sociology and French exams, which she had not been predicted to pass.

“I wasn't so confident this morning before I opened my exam results, but after opening them, I was jumping with joy,” she said.

“I was extremely proud of myself.”

“With Sociology and French, for sure, I struggled a lot. My prediction grades weren't very good for both of them. I was not predicted to pass, and the fact that I did made me really happy.”

She will now go on to do her A-levels in Sociology, Psychology and Health and Social Care so that, in the future, she can become a behavioural specialist.