A visually impaired Northumberland pupil has achieved top marks in all his GCSE subjects today despite challenges caused by his deteriorating sight and the disruption to his education due to Covid.
Cramlington Learning Village (CLV) pupil Daniel Hayton opened his results on Thursday morning to discover he had received nine Grade 9s as well as a distinction in his Drama BTEC. It marks a proud day for the 16-year-old who began to lose more of his sight in the months before he started studying for his GCSEs.
His mum Brenda Hayton said: "He had more vision in Year 8, but had a retinal detachment in Year 9 so lost a more of his sight and that made it even more difficult for him."
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Daniel Hayton and his older brother Peter, who was also a successful pupil at CLV, were both born with microphthalmia and their sight is also affected by glaucoma. Earlier this month Daniel had an operation to reduce pressure in that eye.
Brenda added: "It's too early to say how that's gone and whether the vision will come back to what he had in that eye, that's why he's wearing sunglasses today."
Following his GCSE success, Daniel will go on to study Physics, Maths, Further Maths and Computer Science A Levels at CLV. He hopes his next step will allow him to go on to study Physics at university.
Daniel and his mum thanked teachers and teaching assistants for their support. Daniel said: "The school has been excellent and given me extra help whenever I've needed it.
"You look back at your exams and think you could have done this and that better, but it's obviously turned out fine. I was a bit nervous this morning, but my mam was more nervous than me."
In a joint statement, the school's co-head teachers Jon Bird and Kim Irving said: "We are so proud of Daniel and all of the students who have been through such a difficult time. The pandemic has meant that they have all had to cope with adversity and they've done that with aplomb."
The GCSE results at CLV have come very close to the school's best performance in 2019 despite the impact on teaching during lockdowns. The numbers of students staying on to study A Levels is set to reach a record number.
Among the CLV pupils scoring top marks today was England footballer Ella Wilson. Her excellent set of results included three 9s.
Ella is heading off to Durham Sixth Form Centre – which has strong links with her new team Durham Women FC - to continue her studies. But before then the left back is joining up with the England camp.
Ella said: "I'm going to try to do both and keep my options open. You don't know what's going to happen in football."
Ella started playing football at the age of four and joined the Sunderland Academy aged eight. She has been with England since she was 12.
She praised the staff at CLV for encouraging her and other female students to play football. She added: "They've been really supportive to me and there are loads now playing, which is great."
Her football heroes are North Easterners Lucy Bronze and Jill Scott, who were both part of the Lionesses squad which won the Euros this summer. Ella added: "We didn't have much to look up to but now we definitely do."
Last week Cramlington Learning Village reported one of its "best ever years" for A Level results, with one in five students receiving at least three top grades.
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