EMOTIONAL scenes unfolded at Oxfordshire’s schools today as GCSE dread made way for jubilation.

As was clear from tears of joy and excited jumping, the atmosphere at school libraries, halls and foyers across the county was thick with relief in the face of reforms.

For teachers and teenagers this year was especially testing, marking the first set of results in many subjects since exam and content changes to make courses tougher.

Click here for our live blog coverage as GCSE results day unfolded

The Government brought in a new grading system to replace A*-G grades with 9-1, where 9 is the very highest achievement and grade 4 is more or less equivalent to the old grade C.

Last year changes only applied to English and maths, but a raft of other subjects followed this year.

But schools who spoke to the Oxford Mail today were positive about results, praising staff and students for adapting under pressure.

Oxford Mail:

Girls celebrate results at Didcot Girls' School. Pic: Ric Mellis

At Wallingford School, headteacher Wyll Willis was relieved to learn that 80 per cent of students had received grade 4s or above in English and maths.

He said: “In 30 years of teaching, this is the set of exam results that has kept me awake longest through August.

“For the teachers to cope with reforms and the lack of support they have had, and still deliver the results we are used to, I couldn’t be prouder of the people I work with or the community I serve.”

Star student Hollie Partis was a bit ‘frustrated’ at ‘only’ getting an 8 in physics, to go with straight 9s in nine other subjects, but ‘really happy’ with her results overall.

Several heads said the Government rushed in the course changes, which meant teachers and students had no past papers or textbooks to work from.

Oxford Mail:

Friends congratulate each other at Cheney School. Pic: Ed Nix

At Matthew Arnold School in Botley, headteacher Katherine Ryan said she was delighted with results but did not want to draw comparisons to previous years.

She said: “With the changes it’s almost like we’ve started again with GCSE’s, but I’m very proud of how everybody has done.

“The results are what we expected, which is great, because we always have very high aspirations for our students.

“They have all stepped up and can now go on do the all the things they want to do.”

Boys at St Birinus in Didcot achieved ‘impressive’ results of around 75 per cent 4s or above in maths and English.

High-performing quartet Owen Pickles, Sam Watson, Sam Mobey and Josiah Shield managed 18 9s and 17 8s between them.

Dad Mark Seadon was brimming with pride over his son Matthew’s results, a clutch of 5s and 6s.

Didcot 16-year-old Matthew, who is on the autistic spectrum, labelled his results ‘amazing’.

Head John Marston said said: “Many students achieved the very top grades and others have fulfilled their potential or overcome significant challenges, to achieve grades they richly deserve.”

Oxford Mail:

A Didcot Girls' School student breaks the good news to her family

Many celebrated record-breaking results for their respective schools: Larkmead School and Fitzharrys School in Abingdon, Didcot Girls’ School, Kingham Hill School in West Oxfordshire, and Wood Green School in Witney.

At the latter school, 72 per cent of students achieved five or more GCSEs at grade 4 or above, up from 65 per cent in 2017.

Wood Green headteacher Rob Shadbolt said the new GCSEs were ‘absolutely tougher’ than in previous years, with pupils taking on enormous workloads.

He added: “On top of that, this year group had not had the lead-in that students in the future will have, and information about the courses was hard to come by which made it hard for teachers to feel they were preparing students.

“However, our students and teachers responded magnificently. The commitment to work, aspiration to succeed and the resilience in the face of these additional challenges was phenomenal.”

At John Mason School in Abingdon, boys bucked the national trend to trump girls for the first time, outperforming them by 10 per cent.

Thomas Fry, who got five 9s, revised together with his childhood friends.

He said: “We’ve all known each other since primary school and we helped each other out and it’s great to see how well we’ve all done.”

Friend Joseph Pumphrey said he felt there had been too much emphasis on learning things like equations and there had been a lot of pressure on the final exams.

The school’s headteacher Sarah Brinkley said she was ‘really pleased’ with the performance, given the ‘challenging’ national context.

She said: “The new system is really tough - with no coursework you have to retain a huge amount of knowledge for the exams.

“We’ve seen standards going up across lots of subjects including history, geography and the arts – it’s a credit to all the teachers who take their jobs very seriously.”

The Oxford Academy’s deputy head Abi Banks said students showed ‘resilience and determination to succeed’.

Of 127 pupils sitting exams, 64 per cent achieved a Grade 4 and above in English and 69 per cent received a grade 4 and above in maths.

Oxford Mail:

GCSE results day at Oxford Spires Academy. Pic: Ed Nix

The deputy head said: “Both staff and students have needed to get to grips with the new content delivery and exam preparation, so it is even more pleasing to see such success.”

Among the success stories was high-achiever Morgan Waite, who is hoping to go onto study medicine.

He and his mum, who works at the school, celebrated his two 9’s and five 8’s.

The Cherwell School in Oxford also had another successful year, with impressive headline results including a huge 93.7 per cent of students achieving a pass in English.

Head Chris Price described the year group as a ‘special group of people who have offered a great deal to the school’ and said he was ‘delighted’ by the results.

St Gregory the Great Catholic School in East Oxford was also pleased despite the challenges of change.

Acting head Sean Tucker said he was proud of the results, which saw 52 per cent of pupils receive Grade 4 or above in English and Maths.

Among the top performers celebrating was Eva Zhang Garcia-Valcarcel who achieved two A grades for AS Spanish and Chinese, two A* grades, one A grade, seven grade 9s and three grade 8s.

The school also congratulated successful students who learnt and speak English as a second language, including Sedra Kako who recently arrived from Syria.

At nearby Oxford Spires Academy, it was the first GCSE results since Marianne Blake became headteacher last September.

Ms Blake said: “Despite the national tightening of standards we are really pleased to see that our students have risen to the challenge.”