For 16-year-old Thomas O’Mahoney, Wednesday night was a sleepless night. With just hours to go until he collected his GCSE results, he spent his time strategising about what he would do with various hypothetical sets of grades. In the end, when he received his white envelope on Thursday morning at Sandymoor Ormiston academy in Runcorn, Cheshire, he had scooped a lot of 7s and 8s. “I’m really happy,” he said. “Relieved, definitely relieved. I spent the whole night last night weighing up options, what could have come of it, and when the grade boundaries came out at 8am this morning I was already checking online.” Now he is off to college to study A-levels – he has not decided which ones yet – and has an ultimate goal of pursuing a career in finance. For Grace Elder, 16, one of the most challenging things about taking her GCSEs has been spending this summer waiting for the results. “The buildup was tense, I won’t lie, it was the waiting game that I struggled with,” she said. “I was like: I just need those numbers now.” When the wait was finally over, she received 8s in her two English subjects, biology and psychology, and several 7s. But it was the 6 in maths and statistics that she was most delighted with, having hoped for a 4 or a 5. Grace will next take A-levels in English literature, psychology and law and hopes to pursue a career in criminal psychology. “I’m really, really proud,” she said. “It’s been difficult, I won’t lie. I found coming back after Covid the hardest, I was out of school for a bit, but I think this has just proved to me that even though I’ve had struggles, I’m still me, I can still do it, I just needed this.” She added: “Everyone always saying it’s just a number on a piece of paper, which is true, but I can see my whole school journey in this.” This cohort of students were in year 7 when the country locked down due to coronavirus. They were just settling into school when they found themselves out of the classroom again. “It’s definitely been a struggle with going out in Covid,” said Sophie Grice, 16, “because I’ve gone from primary school to year 7 to lockdown completely. “It was hard to get back into school for me, but the teachers definitely, and one teacher in particular, helped me through everything. The teachers here are dead supportive.” Despite the challenges, her hard work has paid off. She was pleased with the set of results in her hand and is now going to study animal management at college. “It went better than I expected, to be honest,” she said. “I’ve hit most of my predicted grades and some of them I’ve gone over with.” As pupils turned up to collect their results, many with their parents in tow, there were hugs, screams – and a few tears. Some ripped open their envelopes straight away, while others stood clutching them waiting for friends – or took them home to open in private. “I think I’ve done good, I’ve got quite a mixed bag,” said Eoin Hughes, 16, adding that he was happy with his results. “I wasn’t expecting to get so high in a couple of ones, and so low in a couple of others, but that’s fine.” He plans to study economics, maths and PE at A-level and wants to pursue a career in banking. This morning, he said, “I was super-excited, because we’ve been waiting for so long, I just wanted to know. It’s just annoying having to wait so long, you overthink it more and more.” Evelyn Carroll, 16, is off to the Fowler football academy in Liverpool. After an anxious morning, she was delighted to have passed everything, with a distinction in PE. “I’ve been dead nervous, but excited, I’ve been eager to find out the results,” she said. “I was really nervous because I needed some 6s to get into college, and I’ve got them, so I’m happy now.” Sandymoor Ormiston academy is a small school, with a cohort of only about 120 pupils a year. Year 11 pupils take GCSEs or BTecs, with around a 70/30 breakdown in favour of GCSEs. In 2018 the school was rated as inadequate by Ofsted but in April it was graded up to good. The principal, Sally Jones, who took over the running of the school in 2018, said: “I’m feeling really, really positive, there’s a really bright future for Sandymoor, the kids have done me proud, absolutely. “They were year 7 when the lockdown came and the resilience they’ve shown has been incredible, so I’m so, so proud of them today.” She added: “I love results day, it’s my favourite day, because it’s the coming together of all the hard work. We go on the twists and the turns together over the five years, and for me results day is all about where you can see the hard work has paid off.” While Jones and her senior leadership team would spend the rest of the day analysing and reflecting on the results and planning for next year, some of their pupils had bigger plans. “I’m off to Leeds festival,” Thomas said. “These [results] are getting dropped off at home and then I’m going straight to Leeds. I cannot wait to see Gerry Cinnamon, and Catfish and the Bottlemen as well. I’m really excited.”