Plaistow pupils ditch social media for GCSE results success

Pupils have ditched “distracting” social media apps to score better in exams, including one pupil who spent 12 hours a day online.

Cumberland School students in Plaistow beat their target grades after ditching their phones and social media in favour of study, the school said.

This comes as GCSE results for secondary school students were announced today (August 24).

Sabrina Abuka, 16, from Plaistow, said giving up her 12-hour-a-day phone habit vastly improved her results.

“I didn’t have any self-control and it was so distracting,” she said. “I was getting 6s in English and was the lowest in the class and today I received a 9 and I cannot believe it.

“I used to spend my time on TikTok and now I spend it revising,” she added.

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Last May, teachers at the school convinced more than half of students to give up TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.

Ekhlas Rahman, headteacher at Cumberland School, said all students who gave up social media while revising have improved grades (Image: Duncan Jack)

Out of 300 students, 160 agreed to delete the social media platforms and take part in compulsory revision sessions.

Many also agreed to hand in their mobile phones while in school taking exams.

The students who stuck with the experiment in the exam period scored more than 50 per cent higher than predicted, the school said.

It said the 20 students that stuck to the exam-period social media blackout improved their grades.

Alexsandra Iwanowska, 16, from Canning Town, was of those students who achieved outstanding results, including 9s in English, maths and sciences.

“I was on my phone a lot so I knew it would be a huge distraction if I was trying to revise for my exams,” she said.

“It was a bit scary because we communicate these days through social media but I found myself being so much more productive.”

Chenor Kasa-Vubu, 16, from Plaistow, excelled in subjects including achieving a 9 in sociology and 8s in English and religious studies.

She will now study history, politics and English literature at A-level.

Chenor said: “I stopped chatting to friends on my phone apps and going on Snapchat as I really needed to focus.

“It has produced amazing results.”

Headteacher Ekhlas Rahman added: “The results have been quite remarkable.

“Every student who stuck it out right until the end has managed to score higher grades than predicted.”