Colchester: Star pupils achieve straight 9s in GCSEs

Class of 2025 had record percentages of grade 9s (Image: Newsquest Reporter) Among the star performers is Ekanshu Thapa, 16, who achieved grade 9s in all ten of his subjects: mathematics, further mathematics, English language and literature, physics, biology, chemistry, French, history, geography and computing.

Ekanshu Thapa- brilliant pupil who got all 9s (Image: Newsquest Reporter) "I feel happy but kind of empty now," Ekanshu said.

""It's all been building up to this moment, and now that it's here, it's a bit overwhelming. It's going to take me a day or two for this to sink in."

He plans to study A-levels in mathematics, further mathematics, physics and chemistry at the school, with ambitions for a career in finance.

Aiden John Paget,15, also secured straight 9s across his ten subjects including English language, literature, French, mathematics, further mathematics, computing, physics, chemistry, biology and history.

Aiden John Paget, 15 was very happy to get all 9s (Image: Newsquest Reporter) "I am over the moon," he said. "At the moment, I am just taking it all in and trying to enjoy. My mum is really happy as well."

Aiden is staying at the grammar school for A-levels, currently planning to take mathematics, further mathematics, physics and French, though he admitted he might switch languages after performing better than expected in German.

Happy-Vihaan Sule, 15 (Image: Newsquest Reporter) Vihaan Sule, 16, achieved an impressive nine grade 9s and one grade 8, with only music proving challenging with a grade 5.

"I am very happy with my grades. Except for the music one," he said.

His grade 9s came in mathematics, further mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, computing, French, alongside grade 8s in English language and Design technology.

"I was revising a lot, and I just put my mind to these exams entirely," Vihaan explained.

He's planning to take A-levels in mathematics, chemistry, biology and further mathematics, adding: "I am very happy at this school, so I am staying back."

Charlie Leek is happy with his results (Image: Newsquest Reporter) Charlie Leek, 16, expressed his delight at exceeding his own expectations. "I feel incredible. I did a lot better than I thought I did," he said. Charlie studied the three sciences alongside German, history and computing as his optional subjects.

Looking ahead to sixth form, Charlie has chosen an interesting combination: "I am going to study philosophy, psychology and English Literature. Philosophy I have always had interest in and I think I will really enjoy it."

Headteacher John Russell is very pleased (Image: Newsquest Reporter) Headteacher John Russell praised this year's cohort: "I think this is a lovely year group and results have been very strong. They worked really hard, so we were expecting good results, but they did exceptionally well."

He highlighted the exceptional nature of this year's achievements:

He said: "We have had a very high number of grade eights and nines, and the per centage of level 9 is one of the best we've ever had. So I am very pleased."