Headteacher of Sheffield's Notre Dame High School celebrates best ever GCSE results

The Star, Sheffield

Headteacher of Sheffield's Notre Dame High School Deirdre Cleary speaks with The Star about her students' trials and tribulations under Covid-19 while announcing the school's best ever results for GCSE Results Day 2024.

Transcript

00:00Thank you. It's Alistair from the Sheffield Star. We're here at Notre Dame High School.

00:04I'm here with the headteacher, Deidre Cleary. Thank you very much for joining us today.

00:08I've been told these are the best GCSE results you've ever had today. Can you talk us through

00:12what's happened? Well, I think a lot of hard work from both, particularly the students

00:17and the staff as well. You know, for this year group, they came back after COVID. They

00:23were in year eight and it was really strange. You know, teachers weren't allowed to circulate

00:28and teach them. They had to stay at the front. And this particular year group, it affected

00:34very badly. You know, they struggled, anxiety, all sorts of things. So for them to have done

00:39as well as they have this morning, we are absolutely delighted. And they've just worked

00:46with us, you know, they have shown tremendous resilience and hard work. And they've worked

00:52with the staff, they've gone the extra mile, and they've been really responsible about

00:57their own learning, you know, in terms of what they needed. So we're absolutely delighted.

01:02And of course, the staff as well have just done an amazing job at filling those gaps

01:07that were certainly there pre-COVID. And of course, these set of GCSE results are as normal,

01:13you know, they've been marked, there's been no adjustments to accommodate COVID. So that

01:18tells such a strong story about what students and the staff have done in the school.

01:23To correct me if I'm wrong, it's that they would have been in year seven in 2019, gone

01:28into 2020, and then the pandemic would have hit. Their secondary school career would have

01:32been entirely marked and overshadowed by this in some places.

01:35Yes, absolutely.

01:36Would you say you've got a lot of sympathy for that? Or what would you say is the prevailing

01:40feeling amongst this year group?

01:42Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when they came back, I think they felt very hard done to. And of

01:47course, you know, it particularly picks out those who are from a more disadvantaged background.

01:53So, you know, in any school, you've got a real mix of students and parents, obviously,

01:58some were still working, some were at home with lots of children, you know, trying to

02:03do online learning and everything. So the experience of this year group was extremely

02:07varied. And I think when you come back then, and students are aware of that as well, some

02:12of them had a better, you know, COVID pandemic than others did really. And they certainly

02:18came back to us, some of them, what I would say, students in this school really want to

02:24do well, they're very motivated and self starters. But I think for there was a whole bunch of

02:29this year group, that when they returned to school, they felt that they were, they'd lost

02:34it, you know, they felt that that lack of learning time was the end for them. And that

02:39was our battle in school really was to bring back that confidence to them that we could,

02:44you know, overcome that, those gaps that they had, and get them back on track so that

02:50they achieved as they should have done anyway, if that had never happened.

02:55Do you know what the rate is of, I suppose, GCC students today who will be coming back

02:58for sixth form, I suppose, I mean, you've got quite a high retention rate anyway, so

03:01it's not goodbye.

03:02No, no, it's not at all. No, we think this year group in particular, there's an awful

03:07lot of them staying with us, something like three quarters of the year group are planning

03:11to come back and study for this at A level, which is absolutely fantastic. And, you know,

03:16I'm really delighted for the others as well, who perhaps found, you know, a course or an

03:21apprenticeship or whatever, which is their next step as well, that's important for them.

03:26Any last words you'd like to say to the year group? I mean, they're not going anywhere

03:29yet, but any congratulations or well done you'd like to say?

03:31Absolutely. I would just like to say to all of the year group that I am so proud of them,

03:36all of the staff are so proud of them, we're absolutely delighted with what they've achieved

03:41and we look forward to seeing what amazing things they do in the future.

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