Gilberd student credits musical talents for her GCSE results

The Gilberd student achieved stellar results in the likes of maths, science and English, but her true passion is musical composition and performance.

In fact, she credits her grades to having music as a welcome escape from the stresses of revision, often finding herself drawn to the piano – an instrument she has played since the age of four – when the inevitable studying-induced brain fog sets in.

Thrilled – Grace Williams (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)

She said: “I have really just practiced every week since I was four – it relieves stress and even during revision for exams I would sit there and play on the piano.”

Piano is not her only instrument, either – she is a keen drummer, guitarist, and singer too, having performed in front of 500 people at Essex University when she was in Year 9.

“It was weird”, she says of the experience.

“I was really nervous going up to it, but when I started playing there was no going back.

“It was really fulfilling afterwards – it’s probably one of the things I am most proud of.

“I have not been the most confident person in the past but I have been building my confidence after that – it was a really important thing to do.”

It must have made taking her exams feel like Debussy’s cakewalk – Grace earned grades seven to nine in combined science, German, history, maths, music, English language, English literature, and PE.

If there is any downside to receiving such strong results, it’s that it makes choosing a future career that bit tricker.

Successful – the Gilberd school is one of the best state schools in the county (Image: Newsquest)

“I know music is a very hard career choice – it is between that and psychology, but English is also a real passion of mine," she said. 

“My dream job is doing something to do with music – composition is my favourite part and for my GCSEs I composed a piece of music to a film script.”