Audenshaw School’s ‘Carpe Diem’ mantra proven by students who celebrate strong results across the board

The Principal of Audenshaw School has described the GCSE results of Year 11 students as "a milestone year", and one that all students, families, teachers and support staff can be "immensely proud of".

The percentage of students achieving Grade 4 or above in English is up compared to last year at 75 per cent (71 per cent in 2023) and stands at 71 per cent in Maths. Students achieving Grade 5 or above in English is 59 per cent, and 50 per cent in Maths.

Alongside core subjects, there has also been strong performance in Photography, Biology, Music, Chemistry, Physics and Spanish. Improvements in recent years are also evident across RE, Statistics and Engineering.

To mark results day, pupils, parents and carers were welcomed to the school to celebrate the achievements of the class of 2024.

Deputy Head Boy Lucas Calvert achieved nine 9s, two 8s and a Level Two Distinction Star. He’ll move onto Ashton Sixth Form College to study maths, further maths, physics and 3D design with the aim of being a civil engineer.

He said: “Engineering allows you to take ideas and apply them to the real world. It’s an area with unlimited potential because there are so many things that haven’t yet been discovered. Our world requires constant improvement and working in that field, I can contribute to that.”

“People say their school has helped shape their life,” he added, "but it is 100% true of Audenshaw School. I owe many of my grades to the support of my teachers, but especially my English teacher Mr Cunningham who transformed what I once thought was a boring topic into something exciting and interesting. I’ll always remember him!” 

Photography-whizz Nathan Gannon achieved a 9 in the subject at Audenshaw School, and is looking forward to applying his achievement into ongoing training at Clarendon College. His inspiration is a professional photographer called Dan Webster, who visited Audenshaw School to deliver a workshop and encouraged Nathan to take his passion to the limits.

Nathan said: “My dream would be to photograph Manchester City every weekend!”

Joseph Cain is feeling incredibly proud after achieving 9s across the board, and one 8. He’s opted to study biology, chemistry, maths and history at A Level with Ashton Sixth Form College, and though he has no specific career goals, he does have one aim in mind – to study at Oxbridge.

“That’s my non-negotiable,” he said, “and I’m going to work as hard as I can to get there.”

Joseph issued a special thank you to his teachers, saying: “They mean the world to me as they’ve not just supported me with my studies, but personally too. It’s been lovely to celebrate with them today.”

Sebastian O’Carroll has worked relentlessly to achieve his grades.

He was originally predicted a 2 in maths but came away with a 4, and achieved a 7 in history having been predicted a 3.

Though he says he’ll miss the student life, he has specific ambitions for his future, looking to work as a barrister in commercial law.

He said: “I’m interested in business, and specifically the relationships between different companies. I’d love to work in corporate insolvency, and am working towards that with my college subjects.”

He’ll study history, politics and law at Ashton Sixth Form College.

Passionate drama student Wren Weaver is firmly set on where their future lies.

After achieving a 9 in English literature and an 8 in English language, they’ll move on to Ashton Sixth Form College to focus on drama.

A budding script writer, they’ve starred in various productions, including one in the West End, and have written their own fantasy productions, too.

A trans person, they’ve overcome adversity throughout their GCSE years, with their personal circumstances a challenge alongside their studies.

They said: “As a trans person in a single gender school, there have been a lot of obstacles but I’ve had support every step of the way from teachers and my friendship group. If I were to offer any advice to next year’s GCSE students, it would be to continue pushing yourself to be better.”

Medically-minded Nikola achieved high grades in all his subjects, including two 9s in English literature and English language, 8s in all science disciplines and a 7 in history.

He’ll head to Connell College to study chemistry, biology and psychology, with the aim of working for the NHS as either a radiologist or neurologist.

He said: “My dad is an anaesthesiologist and an inspiration to me, so I want to follow in his footsteps to care for other people. I’d like to send a personal thank you to every teacher who helped get me here – I don’t think I’ll ever experience teachers as great as them again in my education.”

Having celebrated his 16^th birthday two days ago, Nikola will be having a quiet evening with family tonight.

Liam Keddy is a keen rugby player, and wants to apply his love of the sport to his future career. He achieved a 5 in English literature and a Level 2 Merit in BTEC Sports, which is exactly what he needs to study sports science, history and applied science at Ashton Sixth Form College.

Aiming to become a physiotherapist, he said: “I want to know more about how the body works, understand how far you can push yourself physically and how you can achieve a high level of recovery.”

Having lived in Preston in his younger years, he joined Audenshaw School without a core friendship group but says the community welcomed him with open arms.

“I was incredibly shy when I came to secondary school,” he said, “but I’ve built a great group of friends, and the teachers have always supported me. I’ll really miss Audenshaw School.”

English literature lover Luka Piranishvili undertook additional tutoring, homework sessions and workshops with his teachers to achieve the results he aspired to.

His hard work paid off, with 7s in history and English language, 6s in English literature and maths, and 5s in biology and art. He’ll head to Ashton Sixth Form College to study law, English literature and criminology – a mix he says gives him endless options for a career.

“I might want to be a detective,” he said, “or I might prefer to become a solicitor – who knows? Studying those subjects I know I’ll be able to enter a field I’m interested in and eventually find my specialism.”

Luka added: “I’m so thankful for the hard work my teachers have put into me and although I’ll miss school, I’m really excited for the next chapter.”

George Watmough achieved 5s and 4s across the board, and is keen to one day enter the production industry.

Going on to study music technology, film studies and business at Ashton Sixth Form College, he said: “I’ve a real interest in everything that happens behind the camera – all the work that goes into pulling programmes and films together.”

He’s celebrating his results at a pub quiz with his friends.

Abdul Alli said he’s ‘exceptionally happy’ about his grades, having achieved an 8 in maths, further maths, English literature and triple science, as well as a 7 in statistics and English language.

Having entered secondary school in bottom sets, he’s worked relentlessly to improve his results, and will celebrate the outcome of that with his parents.

A keen software engineer, he’s off to study maths, computer science and physics at Xaverian College in Manchester. With a passion for computers, he said: “I want to create a software that solves business problems – something that’s used across the world.”

Mr Taylor said: “It is a day of immense pride here at Audenshaw School. A strong set of results have been achieved once again through the partnership of our students, community of staff, parents, carers, the trust board and many more.

“As a year group, this cohort have experienced significant disruption to their learning journey but have taken on every challenge thrown at them, so to achieve such fantastic results should be a proud moment for them and is a milestone year for us.

“We hold an attendance figure that sits within the very top percentile of national levels at 94.3%, vs national secondary school attendance of 90.9%, and there is no doubt this has been one of many contributing factors to another successful year.

“It’s also a proud day for myself, marking the completion of my third academic year in role. In 2023 Audenshaw was graded ‘Good’ in all areas by Ofsted, so to follow this up with a set of such impressive academic results adds even more pride as we continue our mission to build from ‘good to great’ in all areas.

“I’m in the privileged position of being able to work with these students and staff every day, and our collective aim is to ensure future students have everything they need to achieve excellence in all they do – both in their learning and as young men.

“Good to luck to all our students in their future endeavours and always remember – Carpe Diem.”

Phillip Murphy, Vice Principal of Achievement of Standards, said: “To see continued improvement across such a broad range of subjects since examinations returned in 2022 is something everyone at Audenshaw School should be proud of. Our students are performing above the national average for boys but more than that, they are performing at a level higher than that of all students nationally. 

“The conduct our students have upheld throughout their final year has been exemplary and I know that a lot of them will be very happy today – as they deserve to be. 

“We have every confidence that our students can move onto their chosen pathway with the skills they need to build on their experiences here. They should be extremely proud of themselves and everything they have achieved in their five-year journey here at Audenshaw School.”