A YOUNG carer who had to revise in hospital, looking after her young siblings while her mum was seriously ill, was among those celebrating good GCSE results across Newport.

Chanelle Ramejkis, 16, had to support her three siblings, aged from one to four, throughout her mum’s chronic kidney illness, including when her mum collapsed and needed CPR on her bedroom floor in January.

At one point her attendance at St Joseph’s RC High School dipped to 70 per cent and she thought about giving up school.

Now all the hard work has proved worth while as she has come away with two Bs, three Cs, a D and a pass in science.

Zena Ramejkis said: “She’s worked so hard to get them. I’m an extremely proud mum.”

Chanelle said: “I’m ecstatic. I cried my eyes out when I saw my results. I just wasn’t expecting it – I thought I was going to fail everything.”

The city’s GCSE results improved this year, bucking the UK trend for a fall in grades and remaining above the Welsh average.

Of all Newport entries, 67.3 per cent achieved grades A* to C compared to 66 per cent last year. The number of pupils achieving A*-A grades was 23 per cent, 3.8 per cent higher than the Welsh average and up from 21.5 per cent last year. Overall, around 98 per cent of entries in the city were graded between A* and G.

In new school Llanwern’s first year since taking over from Hartridge High, the number of pupils achieving five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths has almost doubled, to 45 per cent up from 26 per cent last year.

Staff welcomed the results as “outstanding”, showing the £29 million investment in the new school is paying off, especially considering that 39 per cent of pupils are on free school meals.

Peter Jenkins, head teacher, said: “We are the school in Wales that has shown the greatest improvement, no doubt about that.”

Students at St Joseph’s RC High School were also celebrating after 87 per cent of pupils achieved at least five A* to C grades, an improvement of 10 per cent from last year.

Acting head Trevor Brown said: “We are delighted with the results across the board."

Newport High School achieved its best results ever, with 40.1 per cent of Year 11 students gaining at least five GCSEs at A*-C including English and maths and 86 per cent of students achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE.

Madeleine Baker was among the high achievers, leaving Year 11 with six Distinction* grades, one A, four Cs and five pass grades.

At Lliswerry High School, 31 per cent of students achieved five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths, down 1 per cent from last year. Maths results were up by 2 per cent, while English fell by the same amount.

A total of 38 per cent of pupils achieved ten GCSEs at A*-C.

Jamie Parsons achieved eleven A*s and one A grade, Joe Davies with six A*s and five A grades and Daniel Cork with three A*s and eight As.

Outstanding results at Caerleon Comprehensive included Sophie Warren, who was overjoyed after achieving seven A*s and three As .

Duffryn High School was one of Newport’s top performing schools with 90 percent of student achieving five GCSE’s grades A-G, and 80 percent of pupils achieving five GCSES at A* to C. This figure has gone up by 11 percent since last year.

Head teacher Jon Wilson said: “These are our best ever results and we are delighted.”

Top performing students included Elinor Jones, 16, of Ridgeway, who achieved nine A*’s and two A’s, including Physics and Chemistry.

Elinor, who had been revising for the exams since April, said: “I have worked really hard for these results and hope to go on to study medicine at university.”

Dr Jonathan Tribbick (Headmaster): ‘Congratulations to Rougemont pupils for their GCSE results. In a year when there has been much talk about tougher exams and falling numbers of higher grades, our pupils have distinguished themselves with excellent results.’

At independent Rougemont School, the percentage of A* and A grades was 54 per cent. The number of pupils achieving at least five A* to C grades including English and Maths was 95 per cent.

Impressive results included Jenna Hussain of Llanfrechfa, who achieved 12A*s and 1A grade.

Bassaleg School said they would not be releasing results today.