Months of hard work, revision and anticipation came down to the opening of one envelope as students at Saddleworth School discovered their GCSE results.
The Saddleworth Independent headed to the school early on results day, where nervous and excited pupils arrived ready to find out whether their hard work had paid off.
And they were not the only ones feeling the pressure.
Plenty arrived accompanied by perhaps even more nervous-looking parents, with some admitting to sleepless nights as they shared the anxiety of their children.
But those nerves were soon replaced by cheers, tears, hugs and plenty of smiles as envelopes were opened and students began celebrating their achievements and making plans for their next steps.
Among those celebrating was Ewan Gadsby, from Uppermill, who achieved an outstanding three grade nines, five grade eights and a grade seven.
“It was what I was hoping for. I wanted three nines,” he said.
“I thought I was going to do worse in my science and worse in my French, but I managed to pull through, thankfully.”
Ewan secured his coveted grade nines in Business, English Language and English Literature and is now planning to continue his studies at Greenhead College.
He hopes to take Maths and PE, with his third subject still to be decided.
Reflecting on his time at Saddleworth School, Ewan praised the support pupils received in the run-up to their exams.
“I thought the school did really well putting on loads of good revision sessions and really helping students out,” he said.
“I think the key to good grades is just doing it steadily from the start because I didn’t mega revise. I started in October and did it slowly.”
Brooke Corrigan, also from Uppermill, was thrilled with her results and wasted no time looking ahead to college.
“I’m going to put in my enrolment for Greenhead College today,” she said.
Brooke hopes to study Chemistry, PE and French and said the balance of lessons, revision sessions and study leave at Saddleworth had helped her prepare for the exams.
“I felt like we had a nice balance of normal lessons and revision sessions, and then during the exams we had good study leave,” she said.
And how does a successful GCSE student celebrate after months of hard work and revision? For Brooke, there was no extravagant party planned – she was heading straight to netball training.
There was also a huge sense of relief for Lucy Cox, who admitted the uncertainty surrounding results day had been nerve-racking.
“I’m really, really happy because it’s always nerve-racking,” she said.
“You don’t know what you’ve got until you’ve got them and you can’t really tell how it went from the exam.
“It’s really nice to get them and just get that relief because I know I can get into college.”
Lucy is also hoping to head to Greenhead College, where she plans to study Psychology, Politics and Modern History.
While she has not yet settled on a future career, she already has an idea of the direction she would like to take.
“I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do career-wise, but I’m hoping I’ll do something a bit academic,” she added.
For students across Saddleworth School, results morning marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of another, with thoughts quickly turning from exams and revision to sixth form, college and the opportunities ahead.
And after the nerves of the morning, there were certainly plenty of happy faces – and proud parents – leaving the school.
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