A SET of twins had double the reason to celebrate after securing more than 14 GSCEs when English isn’t their first language.
Alexandra and Simona Kocanova could speak no English at all when they came to Darlington as one-year-olds from their native Slovakia. So Alexandra was especially pleased to gain a grade 7 in English.
Both pupils at Haughton Academy, Darlington, they plan to study at college, Simona health and social care and Alexandra criminology and sociology.
Simona said: “It has been very hard learning from scratch and it was great to pass everything I wanted. I would like a career in health care or therapy as I’d like to help other people.”
Alexandra, who hopes to go to university, added: “School was great at putting on extra lessons and I really appreciated all the help and reassurance.”
Head boy Cole Rungien gained six 9s, an 8, a 7 and two 6s and also had high praise for the school. “We had lots of extra lessons and the homework helped as it was linked to what we were doing in school,” said Cole, who plans to study A levels in biology, chemistry, maths and further maths. “The people here are incredible.”
Aidan Forster, who has autism, was thrilled with his results passing seven GCSEs including his maths and English.
“I had a personalised timetable and it really paid off,” said Aidan, who is moving on to a catering apprenticeship. “The teachers supported me before, during and after school.”
Assistant head with responsibility for data Steve Flynn said: “We have a fantastic set of results and can see how the hard work put in by many pupils has come to a head.
“We have a feast of grade 9s this year which is really impressive and even some pupils who had a shaky start in Year 7, around the time of Covid, have really knuckled down to get a nice set of results. It is quite an emotional thing to see them flourishing.”