The importance of all the major academic disciplines to a John Lyon education has once again been shown in an excellent set of GCSE results.

After two years of hard work preparing for the important examinations, including getting to grips with new marking structures (see below), boys now leaving Year 11 returned to School to collect their results on the morning of Thursday 23rd August.

And with 312 exams – 38% – awarded the top grades across English, Maths, the Sciences, the Humanities, Languages and the Arts, it’s been a hugely successful year once again.

Across the subjects, highlights include:

• More than half of all Maths papers (52%) were graded the highest 9|8
• Almost three-quarters of English Literature papers (71%) were awarded 9|8|7
• 40% of all grades in the three Sciences were A* with 17 boys getting straight A* in the Sciences
• A stunning 90% of Art grades were marked 9|8
• Almost three-quarters of Spanish students (71%) were awarded 9|8|7
• Three quarters of boys earned an A*|A in History

Across all 93 boys who sat exams this year, overall GCSE results have been very strong. 38% of all grades were awarded the highest A*|9|8 grades, while almost two-thirds received A*|A|9|8|7.

Six boys achieved nine or more A*|9|8 grades and 43 earned seven or more A|7 grades.

Kinan Issa, Christopher Lau, Ibrahim Mohammad and Rishil Mehta all achieved a clean-sweep of top A*|9|8 grades. Dhanesh Jegatheesan was celebrating an all-round success with grades 9|A*|A*|A*|8|8|8|8|8|B and with a career in Architecture in mind will now move to the John Lyon Sixth Form to study Art, Physics, Maths and Economics.

John Lyon Head, Katherine Haynes said: “With reform to the structure of GCSE examinations and how they are now marked and graded, it was an especially tough year for this year’s students, but the results have proven that our outgoing Year 11 pupils have applied themselves with great dedication over the past two years.

“The very highest new 9 grade has been designed to represent the equivalent of a high A*, and therefore even more challenging to achieve, but that did not stop John Lyon pupils being awarded 70 of these grades in the 11 subjects being marked in the new way.

“While GCSE results day rightly marks the end of one period of our boys’ lives, they also signal the exciting step-up to A-Level study before higher education and the workplace beyond. We look forward to welcoming our GCSE pupils back as Lower Sixth students in September as they take on this new challenge.”

New GCSE results grading

2018 marks the beginning of a new GCSE grading system, which sees the introduction of numerical grades (1-9), replacing the present lettered A*-U grades.

At John Lyon, this year 11 subjects have moved to numerical grading whilst six remain unchanged.

Numbers and letters do not match up neatly, and so it is difficult to draw exact equivalencies between the two systems. The government has issued the below chart to help draw comparisons. Roughly speaking, both grades 8 and 9 can be compared to an A* grade, with 8 representing a high A / low A* and 9 representing a high A*.

A grade 7 can be seen as an A, 6 and 5 as a B, and 4 as a C.

John Lyon is an independent school, a member of HMC, ISC and is reviewed in the Good Schools Guide.

Pupils typically join John Lyon in Years 7, 9 and 12, largely from a North West London catchment area including Harrow, Wembley, Stanmore, Pinner, Watford, Rickmansworth, Northwood, Ruislip, Hillingdon, Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Southall, Ealing, Acton, Edgware, Brent Cross, Finchley, Barnet, Camden, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, as well as other parts of Middlesex, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

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