STUDENTS at The Deepings School celebrated record A-level results on Thursday.
They had a better than 99 per cent pass rate and half of the exams were passed at A*-B grades.
Top performer Tom Lefley (18) gained A*s in biology and maths and an A in chemistry – enough for a passport to Girton College, Cambridge, to study natural science.
“It’s just overwhelming,” he said. “I decided not to go online and waited until I got my results on paper at 8.30am.”
Jack Hart (18) was overjoyed with three As and a B and Hannah Pascoe (18) was over the moon as her A* and two As were more than she needed for a place to study psychology at Royal Holloway, London.
Hannah said: “I looked online this morning and found out I was going to my university and that I have been offered a scholarship of £1,000. I thought I was only going to get an A and two Bs – I had the A already because I did my ICT a year early.”
Head girl Helen Massy (18) is off to Manchester University to study chemistry and German after earning an A and three Bs.
She said: “I would love to live in Germany and work in medicine and drug manufacturing.”
George Theobalds (18) said: “I have got my first choice of university – Durham – where I will study accountancy. I came out and phoned my dad, mum and my nan and grandad because they were worrying for me as well.” He gained an A, two Bs and three Cs.
Relieved Nick Cundy (18) has an A* in sport, an A in chemistry and a B in biology and will study chemistry at Birmingham.
He said: “It’s brilliant – I feel like a weight has been lifted.”
Delighted headteacher Chris Beckett said the school had a 100 per cent pass rate in 26 of its 29 subjects and most students will go to their first-choice university.
He said: “The students have done great. They have exceeded all our expectations. The results are the best we have ever had by a long way.”
Assistant head Mark Presneill said: “There’s a wider range of students who have pushed Cs to Bs and Bs to As.”
l The school also achieved record AS results with a pass rate of more than 96 per cent.
Ten per cent of students gained straight A grades and Oliver Mowforth earned an outstanding five A grades.