With a year full of changes to the system, schools and students alike were all a little worried heading into GCSE day.

But students across Croydon proved they were up to the task as they piled up some great results.

Angus Harrington was one of Trinity School’s star performers, achieving an outstanding 10 A*s.

Overall 56 per cent of grades awarded were A*s, and 87 per cent of grades were A* or A.

Over at The John Fisher School there were many success stories. The following students achieved A*/As & 7, 8 or 9 across the board. Alexander Limb (9A*, 2As), Jonathan Neary (8A*, 3As), Alexander Grady (8A*, 1A), Robbie Genco (6A*, 6As), Matthew Colverd (6A*, 5As) and Oliver Gaedke (4A*, 5As) all stood out.

Overall John Fisher saw its students receive 80 per cent for 5 A*-C (4+) including English and Maths.

At Harris City Academy Crystal Palace fourteen students achieved A*- A grades in 10 or more subjects. Those students being Khadija Aidoo, Monique Akinbile, Cara Benjamin, Jasmine Clarke-Terrelonge, Reuben Collins, Amy Evans, Anna Hancox, Areeb Khan, Xavier King, Charlie-Joy McKoy, Serena Mitchell, Danielle Nana-Dabankah, Jules Ricard and Punitha Sundaram.

As a whole, 89 per cent of students achieved A*- C, or grade 4 and above.

St Andrews Church of England School saw Nana Amankwah receive 9 GCSE grades all at A/A* (levels 8/9); Jamelia Greene, Elena Fiderio, Sarah Addy, Jordon O’Dongon, George Dion and Victoria Bailey, all gained A-B grades (6-9) as well.

The school’s biology department would have been feeling quite pleased with themselves 83 per cent of students studying the subject recieved a C or above.

Students at The Quest Academy in Selsdon surpassed even their own expectations and garnered the best results in the Academy’s history and 63 per cent of all students achieved at least five good GCSE passes (grade 4 or above for English and Maths and grade C or above in other subjects). 70 per cent of all grades were awarded a C (or equivalent) or better.

One in five new GCSEs reach the elusive 9 standard at Woldingham School.

Two-thirds of Woldingham girls’ qualifications were graded A*/A, and a third of the year group achieved straight A*-A grades. Combined with the new exams, over half of the girls achieved seven or more A*-A/9-7 grades.

In total, Woldingham girls notched up over 500 A*-A and 9-7 grades at GCSE.

A great example of this is Winifred Wright from Purley, who was thrilled with her 11 A*-A/ 9-7 tally and can express her delight in a multitude of languages, having gained A* in French, Spanish and Latin and an A in Greek.

For the last couple of years Winifred has made time to volunteer at the Purley Food Hub, a charity which helps people in crisis who are without food.

Winifred raised £4,000 for this worthy cause by organising a swimathon earlier this year and has arranged for it to receive the school’s Harvest Festival produce for the last two years.

Winifred said: “I was really relaxed about getting my results because I’ve had such a great experience at school. I’m thrilled with these grades and so excited about moving into the Sixth Form at Woldingham.”

Woodcote High School student produced a ‘full house’ student. Sophia Williamson managed to achieve the highest grade possible in all 12 of her subjects. Scoring three grade nines and nine A* grades.

As a school, more than 70 per cent of the cohort achieved grades 4-9 in both the reformed English and Maths exams, with a significant increase in the proportion of students achieving the very highest grades.

A tearful Tegan Finch from Meridian High School was one of the top performers with two A*s, four As and three Bs. She said: “I was expecting to do worse than this but I did put in a lot of work. I’m very happy; I will probably start crying again later.”

To add to that success, 60 per cent of students passed English and 43 per cent passed maths, both improvements on last year’s results.

At Harris Academy South Norwood, 39 per cent of students achieved the EBacc suite of qualifications (A*-C or 4 and above in the core academic subjects), compared to 35 per cent in the equivalent measure last year. Success stories included Shewana Islam – nine A*s, Maya Gannon – eight A*s and an A, Kimberley Bailey – six A*s and four As and Kamran Bhatti – four A*s and five As.

It was a record day for Norbury Manor Business and Enterprise College for Girls.

the school’s results improved with 75 per cent of students earning a standard pass, the new grade 4, in both Maths and English.

There was also a significant increase in the top grades achieved by students overall as 67 per cent of students gained one or more grade 7 or above in Maths and English or an A or A* in any other subject.

Stand-outs were Rabia Dilawar who was awarded a grade 9 in her Maths, English Language and English Literature in addition to a further 4 A* and 5 A grades while Orisela Malaj also scored grade 9 for Maths, English Language and English Literature and gained a 4 further A* and 3 A grades.

Coloma Convent Girls’ School was pleased with its performance with a total of 16 pupils gaining 11 or more straight A*-A grades, with five of these pupils gaining 12 or more straight A*-A grades (or equivalent). Behind these superb headlines, there are individual success stories. Yelena Persaud achieved the perfect ‘clean sweep’ in her 13 GCSEs of 3 Grade 9s and 10 A*s.

Head girl from de Stafford school Esme Jennings was overwhelmed we she opened her letter to show a maths 5, English Language 7 and English Literature 9 with a further three A*s, two As and two Bs. “I have been really emotional, I cried before I opened the envelope. Luckily I have achieved everything and more and I cannot believe I passed maths.”

As a school 66 per cent of students managed to achieve the key threshold measure of 9-4 grades (equivalent to A*-C) in both core subjects of maths and English.

Oasis Academy Shirley Park saw results in key grades climb.

50 per cent of students reached the new level 4+ in both English and Maths, with over a third reaching the new 5+ grade in English and Maths.

Two high achievers in particular High achievers include Yaw Obiri-Addai and Elhana-Faith Sweeney-Shine, who both achieved the new, highest 9 grade in English, above an A*.

64 per cent of students at Oasis Academy Coulsdon achieved a Grade 4 or higher in both English and Mathematics, comparable to our record- breaking results of the last few years; and an impressive 24% of all entries were graded A*-A. Ben Wallner achieved 3 Grade 9s, 5A*s and 3 A grades including an incredible score of 158/160 in GCSE English Literature.