A Shropshire teaching assistant (TA) who went above and beyond to help worried pupils concerned about exam performance by sitting a GCSE in Chemistry has passed with flying colours – and he is in good company as the whole school is celebrating great results.

Rob Howell, who is a member of the Learning Support Department at Oswestry School in Upper Brook Street, Oswestry, was keen to do everything he could to encourage and support his pupils and understand what they were going through.

So, as well as giving them all the usual help, as a TA, Rob undertook a very personal project by agreeing to sit his Chemistry GCSE. Rob went through the whole process, revising and studying in lessons and at home in preparation to sit the exam with the rest of his ‘classmates’ and his hard work has paid off after just finding our he has been awarded a grade 5.

Rob, who lives in Weston Rhyn said: “As a year group, they have faced the challenges of the past two years with remarkable perseverance and are to be congratulated for their excellent achievements.

“It has been an honour to revise and study with them and I’m thrilled to have achieved a Level 5 in my Chemistry GCSE.

“As promised, I will go on to sit GCSE Physics next year and if I pass that, I’ll be heading for the hat trick with GCSE Biology in 2024.”

Rob is not the only one with reason to celebrate as nearly 35% of GCSE grades at Oswestry School were awarded in the very top 9-7 bracket, with a number of pupils achieving a clean sweep of the top grade 9 award.

The school is particularly proud of this year’s GCSE results as many pupils, including those from Ukraine, have triumphed over significant adversity, and are to be commended in particular for their positive approach and strength in resilience.

The 2022 Oswestry School leavers also received outstanding A Level results last week, with a 100% pass rate and outstanding results. More than 70% of grades were A*-B and over 45% were A*-A with four pupils achieving an impressive clean sweep of four A* grades.

Oswestry School Headmaster Peter Middleton commented, “I am delighted to see the hard work of our pupils and teachers has paid dividends with excellent grades across the board.

“As a non-selective school, we pride ourselves on getting the very best out of all our pupils.  Whilst we believe that grades alone aren’t the sole measure of success, our pupils can be proud of what they have achieved, and it lays the foundations to move on to the next stage.  Well done to them all!”

Oswestry school, which was established in 1409 is a registered charity number 1079822.