TEENAGERS have today been praised for their strength, resilience and maturity as they collect their GCSE results.

Schools were forced to close to the majority of students in March due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

For GCSE students, it meant the summer exams they had been preparing for were cancelled.

Instead, their schools were tasked with producing recommendations for their grades, based on work they had already completed and ability they had proven in class, coursework and mock exams.

Today, the official results were released to Year 11 students, including those at Epping St John’s Church of England School, in Epping (part of BMAT-the Burnt Mill Academy Trust).

Michael Yerosimou, head of school, said: “We are so proud of each and every one of our Year 11 students today. Not only have so many of them achieved outstanding GCSE results, they have also shown great strength, resilience and maturity through all of the challenges of the past few months.

“I want to thank all of them for being ambassadors for Epping St John’s and outstanding young members of the Epping community.

“We have our dedicated team of teachers on hand to meet with all students to discuss their next steps today. I’m delighted to say that the vast majority of our Year 11 students are staying on to continue their education with us right here at Epping St John’s sixth form.”

Students received their results this year via email and were invited to book an appointment to discuss their next steps or to enrol at Epping St John’s Church of England School sixth form.

For more information on the sixth form and for Year 7 admissions for 2021, visit https://linktr.ee/eppingstjohns