Twins peak in GCSEs

Nervous teenagers and mature students descended on schools and colleges on Thursday to collect their GCSE results.

There was good news all round as pupils reaped the rewards of their hard work - and, in some cases, there were double celebrations.

Two sets of twins from Costello Technology College, in Basingstoke, gained 33 A* and A grades between them.

Luke and George Holdcroft together achieved 20 GCSEs at A* to B - George with eight A*s and two As and Luke with seven A*s, two As and a B.

"It was quite nice that we managed to get similar results," said George. "We are interested in similar subjects, such as maths and physics, and had a few lessons together.

"We worked independently when studying, but it was always handy to have Luke around if there was something I wasn't sure about.

"We're going our separate ways now. Luke is off to Queen Mary's College, while I'm going to study at Welbeck College, the Army's sixth form college in Nottinghamshire."

Becky and Ellie Rosier fared equally well, with Becky collecting one A*, five As, four Bs and one C, while Ellie got one A*, seven As and three Bs.

"I think being twins certainly gave us an advantage when it came to studying for the exams," said Ellie.

"If I didn't know something, Becky generally had the answer, and one of us always had the notes if the other's had gone missing.

"We got quite similar results and do find that the same things tend to happen to the pair of us. We are both off to QMC where we are taking A-levels, but we haven't chosen the same subjects."

Identical twins Sam and Abbey Harper, from The Vyne Community School, Basingstoke, were jumping for joy at their results.

Abbey picked up five As, three Bs and two Cs, while Sam collected three As, five Bs and two Cs.

"I think it helped being a twin as we were able to revise some subjects together," said Sam. "We are delighted with our results and are both off to QMC to study A-levels."

Across north Hampshire, many schools saw an increase in the number of pupils recording top grades - some of whom had to overcome difficulties to produce excellent results.

Felicity Powell - a pupil at Robert May's School, Odiham - had seven months' sick leave after contracting glandular fever in 2004, but was ecstatic when she discovered she had achieved six As and three Bs.

"I did a lot of hard work and revised loads," said Felicity. "I'm really happy, but I wouldn't have made it this far without the teachers."

Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College, in Basingstoke, had another successful year, despite an outbreak of sickness during the exams.

But it wasn't just mostly 16-year-olds who recorded exam success - students at Basingstoke College of Technology achieved some of the top results in the whole of England.

Spanish students came top of the class, with four of them gaining a place in the top five for the best results in the country - out of 36,741 students.

Della Minett-Westwood, 29, of Beecham Berry, Brighton Hill, Basingstoke, was in that top five and received a letter of congratulations with her results.

She said: "I'm really pleased with it. I was hoping for an A* or an A but it was a total shock to get this kind of result.

"I went to Spain for three weeks on holiday this summer and it was great to be able to communicate much better."

Ms Minett-Westwood is planning to pursue her Spanish by studying for an AS-level at BCOT from September.

And Louise Palmer, 27, from Hatch Warren, Basingstoke, also achieved a top-five A* grade.

She said: "It was totally unexpected. I love languages and I'd already done French and German. I did the course for the challenge."

GCSE Spanish at BCOT, in Worting Road, Basingstoke, is taught by Brigitte Calland-Scoble and runs one evening a week, from September to May.

The tutor said: "I am exceedingly pleased with the results. They are the best results we have ever achieved. I was expecting to potentially get one student achieving a top-five result, but I am flabbergasted to get four."

BCOT part-time students also achieved GCSE results in the top five in the country in archaeology and in Italian.

One student got into the top five out of 3,515 studying Italian and one student was in the top five of 369 archaeology students.

Judith Armstrong, principal at BCOT, said: "I am absolutely delighted with BCOT's GCSE results.

"They are excellent across the board in all subjects, and this is particularly gratifying in the light of the many mature students who come to college to study after a day at work or looking after the family.

"I am delighted for the students and for the staff who work so hard and so enthusiastically. It is wonderful to see their efforts rewarded."

At The Hurst Community College, in Baughurst, Tommy Liu, 16, got top grades, despite starting there in Year 7 with only a limited grasp of English.

The Chinese pupil, who lives in Tadley, achieved six A*s and six As after putting in many hours of study.

Tommy said: "My advice to other students is to work every day for a long period of time."

Fort Hill Community School student Zach Bolton, of Winklebury, Basingstoke, had struggled with his studies, but passed his GCSEs, getting six C grades and a B.

Zach had to cope with family problems and was often in trouble with his teachers, who considered putting him on a reduced timetable.

He said: "I knew I could do the work but I wasn't coming to school with the right attitude. But at the end of Year 10, I decided to just try to get on with it. Now I'm going to college."

First published: Tuesday, August 30, 2005