GCSE Success Completes Dunottar’s Centenary Year
20th August 26
Dunottar’s centenary year has ended with an excellent set of GCSE results. This morning our Year 11 pupils achieved 52% of all grades at 9–7, up on last year, with 12% at grade 9, the highest grade available. Their results come a week after our Sixth Form leavers gained 71% of all A Level grades at A*–B and 34% at A*–A, with every student securing a place at their first- or second-choice university.
Among many individual successes, Max gained nine grade 9s. Across a genuinely mixed-ability year group, pupils achieved well beyond their starting points. This value added is substantial and among the strongest the school has ever recorded.
The Headmaster, Mr Mark Tottman, said: “I am delighted for every one of these pupils. Some of them collected the very top grades this morning, and were challenged all the way to achieve this. Others have surprised even themselves. I am equally proud of both the absolute grades and the value-added results, because they were all earned in the same way. We set high aspirations for every pupil and give each one the support to match. If I keep one memory of this year group, it is of the stage of our Castle Theatre, and of just how many of them performed on it, in Scholars’ Showcases, in Live Lounges and in our whole-school productions. In the centenary production of Les Misérables, our experienced Year 11 performers shared that stage with Year 7 pupils, many of whom had never performed in their lives, and they brought every one of them through. It was a very Dunottar moment, and the same generosity is at work in our classrooms, on our sports pitches and in our charity work, every day. My thanks go to their teachers, and to their parents, who trusted us with them. It has been a good morning in our hundredth year.”
Jude, a Performing Arts Scholar and West End performer, said: “I am really happy with my results. Juggling GCSEs with shows and recording sessions was not always easy, but my teachers made it work. They helped me catch up whenever I was away and never made me feel I had to choose between school and performing. And honestly, playing Donkey in our school production of Shrek the Musical and hearing everyone laugh meant as much to me as anything I have done professionally. Thank you to all the staff who made both possible.”
Sylvia said: “I was nervous opening the envelope and it took a minute to sink in. When I arrived in Year 7 I tried every club and society going, and there are a lot of them. The surprise was how many ended up helping with my studies. History Club began as fun, and by Year 11 it had become the best revision I did. If I could give the new Year 7s one piece of advice, it would be to join everything you can! My little brother, further down the school, hears it from me all the time. My teachers supported me the whole way, and I am really grateful to them.”
All of this has a name at Dunottar. Warrior Learning is the set of seven behaviours the school teaches as deliberately as any subject, and this year group has carried them far beyond the classroom. They have been the kind of pupils a school community is built on.
The results follow Dunottar’s excellent inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) in May 2024, which praised the school’s strong academic outcomes and high-quality teaching alongside its outstanding pastoral care, and highlighted a culture in which pupils flourish.
These pupils have spent their Year 11 in Dunottar’s centenary year, and they take from it more than a set of qualifications. They take the curiosity, tenacity and independence that the next stage will ask of them, and the experience of being known and challenged as individuals, which has defined this school for a century. That is what today’s results represent.
From September, our Sixth Form will be led by Mr Danny Jackson, who joins Dunottar as Assistant Head (Sixth Form).
Prospective families are warmly invited to see Dunottar for themselves, meet Mr Jackson and tour the Sixth Form Centre at our Autumn Term Open Mornings on Thursday 17th September, Tuesday 6th October or Wednesday 25th November. Visit dunottarschool.com/admissions/open-mornings to book.
