Jake Deeble from Eastbrook School celebrating his results

Eastbrook School’s headteacher said there were “mixed emotions” during GCSE results day as some pupils had missed out on target grades due to “harsh marking”.

Valerie Dennis, head at the Dagenham Road school, said 43 per cent of pupils achieved the benchmark of five or more A* to C grades including English and maths. Last year 47 per cent achieved the target grades.

A total of 53 per cent gained two A* to C grades in science and 70 per cent achieved 5 or more A* to C grades overall.

Ms Dennis said “There are mixed emotions today as all of our students worked really hard, there are many success stories but some dedicated students have missed out on their predicted grade C as the marking has been particularly harsh across the country. We are challenging the changes along with many other schools up and down the country.”

Among the top students were Imad Ahmed who scored an impressive ten A and A* grades.

Suad Kamardeen, Jake Deeble and Rizwan Uddin had nine of their marks within the top two grades and Misha Chowdhury, Nadia Tala and Anu Oladapo that figure was eight.

Fifteen students achieved at least four A* to A grades.

The school said its GCSE results have improved year on year for the last five years.

Many of the students will be returning to Eastbrook Sixth Form next year.