St Thomas More RC College

St Thomas More RC College in Denton celebrated another year of outstanding GCSE results, which places the college in the top 20% of schools nationally. Staff, students and parents came together to celebrate the hard work, perseverance and the academic achievements of the Class of 2017 at their annual Year 11 Presentation Evening.

The evening began with speeches from the Headteacher Miss Burns and the former head boy, Callum Taylor and former head girl, Niamh McCoy that reflected on the achievements and memories of the students over the five years that they were at St Thomas More RC College. The audience enjoyed some great entertainment from the talented orchestra and the college choir and the night ended with a truly inspiring motivational speech by the guest speaker Ms Debbie Cooley, who is the co-founder of Hope for Justice. The evening was a fitting way to celebrate the fantastic achievements of the students this year - a year when St Thomas More RC College was yet again judged as a Good school by Ofsted.

Yet again, the college saw a large number of students achieve the remarkable feat of returning the highest grades (A*/A or 9/8/7) in nine or more subjects. This high standard of achievement takes an enormous amount of hard work and commitment and is especially impressive during a period of significant change in the examination system.

Furthermore, this summer saw the introduction of new 9 to 1 grades in Mathematics, English and English Literature. The new Grade 9 is placed three grades above the old grade A and is only awarded to students of exceptionally high ability. However, four students at St Thomas More RC College gained grade 9s in all three subject areas. To honour their academic achievement, the four students were awarded the prestigious ‘Scholastic Excellence Award’ and the students were: Lauren Eaton, Niamh Mc Cartney, Matilda Garcia and Lara Turner. This is an outstanding achievement as only 2050 students nationally achieved 3 Grade 9s.

The evening came to a close with the presentation of the Headteacher’s Award, which went to Olivia Moore, a student who has been recognised for her resilience and remarkable strength of character throughout her time at St Thomas More RC College.