Therapy dog on hand as GCSE students open results
BBCAnxious students' nerves were eased by a school's therapy dog as they opened their GCSE results.
Molly the spaniel was on hand at Cockermouth School in Cumbria on the day hundreds of thousands of students across the country learnt their grades.
Senior deputy headteacher Dr Michelle Henley said it could be "quite overwhelming" getting results "whether they are what you expected, better than what you expected, different to what you expected".
"There's been so many students who've crouched down to give her a little pat or she's gone up to them to give them a bit of a cuddle and she just brings a smile."
Molly was basically a "regular member of staff", Henley said.
She regularly attends the school and its events along with owner Steve Hornsby, and they even have their own timetable.
Henley said: "She puts people at ease straight away.
"She helps people when they feel anxious or uncertain."
The overall GCSE pass rate has fallen slightly for the fifth year in a row - but top grades have edged up across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
But the gap between the pass rates for boys and girls across all three nations has narrowed again, to its lowest point since 2000.
Henley said the school's results were excellent and the students had "achieved fantastically in all sorts of different ways".
"The students and the staff have worked so hard over the last five years to get to the point where we are today," she said.
"We're just absolutely delighted to have seen them grow up with us, work really hard and then be able to move on to their next step in life."
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