A PUPIL at an all-boys school has achieved the GCSE grades they wanted after overcoming ‘obstacles’ as a trans person.
Wren Weaver achieved a nine in English Literature and an eight in English Language at Audenshaw School.
They will move on to Ashton Sixth Form College to focus on drama after the budding script writer starred in various productions, including one in the West End, as well as writing fantasy productions.
And Wren spoke of how the support at Hazel Street was vital.
They said: “As a trans person in a single gender school, there have been a lot of obstacles.
“But I’ve had support every step of the way from teachers and my friendship group.
“If I were to offer any advice to next year’s GCSE students, it would be to continue pushing yourself to be better.”
Other notable achievements at Audenshaw School include deputy head boy Lucas Calvert, who achieved nine nines, two eights and a Level Two Distinction Star.
He will study maths, further maths, physics and 3D design at Ashton Sixth Form College, with the aim of being a civil engineer.
He said: “Engineering allows you to take ideas and apply them to the real world. It’s an area with unlimited potential because there are so many things that haven’t yet been discovered. Our world requires constant improvement and working in that field, I can contribute to that.
“People say their school has helped shape their life, but it is 100 per cent true of Audenshaw School.
“I owe many of my grades to the support of my teachers, but especially my English teacher Mr Cunningham who transformed what I once thought was a boring topic into something exciting and interesting. I’ll always remember him!”
Photography-whizz Nathan Gannon achieved a nine in the subject at Audenshaw School and is looking forward to applying his achievement into ongoing training at Clarendon College.
His inspiration is professional photographer Dan Webster, who visited Audenshaw School to deliver a workshop and encouraged Nathan to take his passion to the limits.
He said: “My dream would be to photograph Manchester City every weekend!”
Sebastian O’Carroll worked relentlessly to achieve his grades. He was originally predicted a two in maths but came away with a four and achieved a seven in history having been predicted a three.
And he has specific ambitions for his future, looking to work as a barrister in commercial law. He said as he prepares to study history, politics and law at Ashton Sixth Form College: “I’m interested in business, and specifically the relationships between different companies.
“I’d love to work in corporate insolvency and am working towards that with my college subjects.”
And Nikola Terziiski, who celebrated his 16th birthday two days before collecting his results, will head to Connell College to study chemistry, biology and psychology, with the aim of working for the NHS as either a radiologist or neurologist.
He said: “My dad is an anaesthesiologist and an inspiration to me, so I want to follow in his footsteps to care for other people.
“I’d like to send a personal thank you to every teacher who helped get me here – I don’t think I’ll ever experience teachers as great as them again in my education.”
Audenshaw’s headteacher, Pete Taylor, said: “It is a day of immense pride here at Audenshaw School.
“A strong set of results have been achieved once again through the partnership of our students, community of staff, parents, carers, the trust board and many more.
“As a year group, this cohort have experienced significant disruption to their learning journey but have taken on every challenge thrown at them, so to achieve such fantastic results should be a proud moment for them and is a milestone year for us.
“In 2023, Audenshaw was graded ‘Good’ in all areas by Ofsted, so to follow this up with a set of such impressive academic results adds even more pride as we continue our mission to build from ‘good to great’ in all areas.”
Phillip Murphy, Vice Principal of Achievement of Standards, added: “To see continued improvement across such a broad range of subjects since examinations returned in 2022 is something everyone at Audenshaw School should be proud of.
“Our students are performing above the national average for boys but more than that, they are performing at a level higher than that of all students nationally.”