THOUSANDS of pupils across the borough have received their GCSE results, with early signs suggesting improvements at some of Croydon's under-performing schools.
Many schools have yet to publish their results but Westwood Girls College for Language and Arts, in Upper Norwood, was among the early success stories.
The school has improved since finishing bottom of the borough's league table last year, with 41 per cent achieving at least five A* to C grades including English and maths, six per cent more than met the Government's benchmark in 2012.
Westwood, which was hit bit a series of staff strikes during the exam period in a row over lesson observations, will open as Harris Academy Upper Norwood in September.
This year's results lift the school exactly in line with the governments minimum requirement that 41% of pupils gaining Cs or above in five core subjects. Failure to do so would trigger an inspection by Ofsted.
Sir Dan Moynihan, chief executive of the Harris Federation, said: "While I am delighted with the performance of all our academies in Croydon, I'm particularly pleased that, under the leadership of one of our principals, Chris Everitt, Westwood College has seen a significant improvement in results.
"This lays the groundwork for the academy to open successfully next month, and we are looking forward to supporting it in going from strength it in going from strength to strength."
Addington High, in New Addington, another one of the borough's lowest performing schools, posted its best ever results, principal James Malley told the Advertiser.
The school, which recently became an academy, saw 49 per cent of its pupils achieve at least 5 good GCSEs including English and maths, up three per cent from 2012
Mr Malley said: "This is an encouraging set of results which are a credit to all the hard work our pupils have put in and the teachers determination to get the best out of them."
The first school to publish its results was Harris Academy South Norwood, where 76 per cent of students achieved at least five A* to C grades including English and maths - a four per cent lower than last year.
Top performing pupils included Riccardo Barra who achieved 13 A* and A grades, Taha Khan with 12 and Arshad Nazir and Grace Lindsey with 11.
Principal Sam Hainey said: "When you compare the performance of our students to their starting points in Year 7, which were very low, these results are remarkable. They will be an inspiration to future year groups."
Results at Oasis Academy Coulsdon dropped slightly with 63 per cent of pupils reaching the benchmark, four per cent less than in 2012.
Among the schools more remarkable success stories was Manikandan Nagaraj , who could not speak any English when he arrived in the UK from India at the age of ten.
Now aged 16, he was almost speechless with delight having achieved 14 GCSEs, nine of which were at the top A* to C grades.
Jasmine Bell, 16, from Purley, at Oasis Academy Coulsdon secured three A*s , 6 As, and four Bs.
"I am really, really happy as I wasn't predicted anywhere near that," she said.
"I worked really hard coming into school before 7.30am, especially before exams. You're at school from the age of four so you may as well put in all you can now."
The McLeod family of Thornton Heath are celebrating the success of twins and Oasis Academy Coulsdon pupils Natalie and Marcus, 16.
Natalie scored five A*s, six As and three Bs while her brother got one A, three Bs and five Cs.
Natalie, who is now planning to go to Richmond Upon Thames College with her brother, said: "I'm relieved and really happy. When I was revising I made sure I turned off Facebook so I wasn't distracted."
Marcus said: "I'm really pleased with my results."
Their mother Lurline added: "I'm relieved they've done well because well because they both worked so hard for it. I'm very pleased for them."
Our reporters Rachel Millard, Andrew Jameson and Georgie Keate will be visiting schools across the borough.
Let us know about your success by emailing gareth.davies@croydonadvertiser.co.uk, posting on our blog below, visiting our Facebook page or using the #croydongcse hashtag on Twitter.
