St Helen's celebrates stellar GCSE results

We celebrated an outstanding set of GCSE results at St Helen and St Katharine on 20 August 2026.  

An impressive 45% of all grades awarded were 9s, and 48 students collected their envelopes to discover that they had achieved nine or more grades 9–8 – an exceptional achievement. Overall, 72% of all grades were at 9–8 and 89% were 9–7. 

Head Sarah Rolling said, “Seeing the students receiving their fantastic GCSE results this morning was joyful and we are absolutely delighted for them. Their grades are well deserved – the reward for a huge amount of hard work and determination, with good humour along the way. Our consistently impressive results say so much about the dedication of our incredible teachers, the encouragement and support of parents and, above all, the commitment of our students. We are extremely proud of every one of them and excited to see them thrive through their A levels as they join SHSK Sixth Form.”  

Our students remained consistently high in STEM, with the first cohort of Further Maths students achieving 59% grade 9s and scientists gaining 52% grade 9s across Biology, Chemistry and Physics as separate or combined sciences. 

One standout student, Ella, achieved an impressive 11 grade 9s, including in all three sciences. Her mother Mariam said, “I’m so proud of Ella – she worked incredibly hard and it is wonderful to find out that it has all paid off! Thanks to all her teachers for their support throughout.” 

Performing Arts subjects also did brilliantly across the board, with 75% of Drama students awarded grades 9-8 and 53% of Music students achieving 9s. Cristy, who has been awarded a Music Scholarship for Sixth Form and has performed in multiple Drama productions said, “I’m feeling happy with my results, it went better than expected. The teachers have been very supportive – they helped guide me through to get these results. The school community is comforting and has helped me excel.” 

Cristy’s dad Risha said, “I’m really really surprised and happy about it because she’s done lots of extracurricular work and balancing things together – the School has really motivated her. And her mum Sandra added, “The School has given a big contribution to her success. I’m very pleased with that.” 

In Computer Science 53% of students achieved grade 9. One of those was Pragya who said, “I am really surprised with my results – I couldn’t have expected any better!” Her parents Shweta and Sumit added, “St Helen’s has been really supportive, and teachers have always given the right guidance at the right time. That has really helped Pragya achieve what she did today.” Pragya will join SHSK Sixth Form as an Academic Scholar this autumn.  

Our Computer Science enrichment programme is very popular and includes opportunities to participate in national robotics competitions and to work with fellow robotics enthusiasts at Radley College.  

St Helen and St Katharine is the top school for sport in Oxfordshire (School Sport Magazine 2026) and this year Physical Education saw an impressive 64% grade 9s and 89% grades 9-8. Emily, who achieved 10 grade 9s overall, and has been awarded both an Academic Scholarship and a Sport Scholarship for Sixth Form said, “I’m really pleased that all my hard work has paid off. We got lots of support from our teachers which gave us a good platform for revising. I’m now incredibly excited for all the opportunities that will come along with being a Scholar in Sixth Form.” Emily’s mother Jacqui said, “I’m really proud – they have all worked so hard and deserve their great results. The teachers have supported them brilliantly and prepared them well for their exams.”  

Alongside studying for her GCSE’S, Zara ran the iPadazzle company as a part of Peter Jones’ Tycoon Enterprise competition. The team consisting of six St Helen’s students impressively finished fourth on the national Tycoon leaderboard. Today she said “I’m really happy with my results and am now looking forward to starting Sixth Form.” Zara and other students will continue to have opportunities to further develop their entrepreneurial spirit as part of the Schools focus on Economics, Business and Enterprise programme. 

Congratulations to all the Year 11 students, and we hope they enjoy the many celebrations!