PUPILS, teachers and parents at Verdin High School have all come in for glowing praise following a set of GSCE results which left headteacher Neil Dyment smiling.

The Winsford school produced its usual share of high-fliers, Wayne Dale leading the way with five A* grades and four As.

And while Mr Dyment was delighted with the achievements of the school's top performers, he was equally thrilled that almost all his pupils had achieved at least one pass.

"Our results have been very pleasing," Mr Dyment said.

"The number of pupils achieving five or more passes at grades A to C is up on last year, and at the higher end of the scale there have been some wonderful performances.

"But pupils of moderate and lower ability also achieved very pleasing grades, with 98 per cent of the year group achieving one or more passes at grades A to G.

"The most important thing is that the children achieve their potential.

"The results that have been achieved are down to the work of the children, the support of their parents - for whom this has been a testing time - and the hard work and dedication of the Verdin staff in getting the pupils ready for their exams."

Mr Dyment was quick to refute the notion that GCSE exams are getting easier.

"It annoys me terribly when people say things like that," he said. "I have seen the effort which these children have put in over the past two years and I know how much they deserve their success.

"We are proud of the achievements of all our pupils."

There were plenty of broad grins among the Verdin students as they opened their results on Thursday morning.

And one of those with plenty to celebrate was Kelly Stockton, of Royle Street, who gained five As, four Bs and one C.

"I'm really pleased. They are much better grades than I was expecting," said Kelly, who is staying on at sixth form to take A-levels in English, French and History and who hopes to study Law and French at university.

Other notable Verdin successes included Sadie Brandon (four A* passes, four As and one B), Joanna Holden (four A* passes, four As and one B), Mark Milestone (four A*s, two As, two Bs and one C) and Jessica Shaughnessy (six As and three Bs).

For the year as a whole, 37 per cent of grades were at C or above, and 29 per cent of pupils achieved five or more A-C grades.

At grades A-G, 83 per cent of pupils achieved five or more passes.

There were also 23 students from Year 10 who passed GCSE Maths a year early. They are Laura Adkins, Rachel Anthony, Jack Antrobus, Caroline Atkinson, Ricky Billinge, Steven Boojawon, Christina Dinely, Andrew Egerton, Rachel Hamlett, Kim Hewitt, Carl Huckin, Paul Hughes, Neil Jackson, Gemma Manning, Benjamin Margerum, Jennifer Marsh, Daniel Owen, Emma Phillips, Jonathon Randall, Gemma Ravenscroft, Katy Swann, Emma Weedall and Lisa Welsby.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.