North Independent Secondary School of the Year 2020 North Independent Secondary School of the Year 2021 North Independent Secondary School of the Year 2021

News

Archives

Young sports stars achieve winning GCSE results

Friday 26 August 2016

For Year 11 student Jo Dobson getting her GCSE results was a load off her mind – she is a national weightlifting champion and achieved 10 GCSEs at The Grammar School at Leeds despite injury and a heavy training schedule.

Her impressive A*, six As and three Bs are all the more remarkable as her preparation was disrupted by shoulder surgery at the end of 2015 and a training commitment of five days a week with the Leeds City Weightlifting Team.

Then in the middle of her exams last May she came out on top at the British Youth Championships in Castleford to become the U17 British champion.

A former sprinter, Jo began lifting weights to regain strength following a hamstring injury three years ago and has never looked back. She said: “I love the thrill of weightlifting. It is so satisfying to be able to lift heavy objects over 1.5 times your bodyweight.”

England netballer Lexy Shipley and up-and-coming rowing cox Harin Wijayathunga are also celebrating after sweeping the board with 10 A*s each in their GCSEs.

Lexy has had a busy year on the netball pitch. She earned her first two England caps at a Netball Europe competition in Gibraltar in March, and followed that up by helping GSAL to win the U16 England Netball National Schools Competition.

She said: “Netball training takes up about 20 hours a week, so with GCSE revision, it was tough. The teachers have been really amazing though and very supportive.”

Harin, a cox at Leeds Rowing Club, became one of the youngest coxswains to cox a team at Henley Regatta two years ago when he was just 14. His future goal is to trial for the Great Britain U18 rowing team.

Training takes up a lot of Harin’s spare time but he welcomes the break. He said: “I train at Thwaites Mill four times a week, plus long sessions at the weekend, and it’s tiring but when I’ve been studying hard it’s good to do something different.”

« All stories

Or, if you prefer to chat to someone please call our admissions team. For Senior School call 0113 228 5121 and for Primary School call 0113 228 5113.