THE King s School celebrated a wonderful week of results on Thursday as successful GCSE stars matched last Thursday s A-level achievers.

THE King's School celebrated a wonderful week of results on Thursday as successful GCSE stars matched last Thursday's A-level achievers.

Years of hard work and a tense summer of waiting were rewarded as 99.5 per cent of students bagged at least five GCSE's or an equivalent, with a half of all grades between A* and B standard. Twenty-seven per cent of all marks were A*s or As.

Seventy-six per cent of students gained five or more GCSEs at A* to C level.

Jess Iley, 16, of Franklea Close, notched up seven A*s an A and a B and is now

looking forward to studying psychology, French, Spanish and dance as a sixth former in September. She said: "I'm absolutely overwhelmed, I wasn't expecting to do anywhere near as well as this. I'm really relieved, all the hard work has paid off."

Ashley Green, 16, of Chineway Gardens, celebrated four A*s, four As and two Bs, and is also looking forward to the sixth form.

He said: "I'm really thankful to the school, the teachers were amazing and it's a credit to them how many people want to stay on.

"I was worried about my history grade but I got an A*. I was hoping, more than expecting to do well. All that cramming has paid dividends."

As scores of teens, some tearful, opened their results and celebrated yesterday, Headteacher Faith Jarrett told the Herald she was delighted and said: "Sixty-nine per cent gained five or more grades between A* and C including English and maths, which is a significant improvement on 2008. Students excelled across the board.

These results are obviously the culmination of a great deal of hard work by the students supported by their teachers and families. Today very much is a day for the students to really celebrate the result of all that hard work and look forward to a very promising future."

Chair of Governors Robin Mitchell offered his congratulations to students, their families and staff, and said: "Many students have achieved quite outstanding sets of results right across all subjects. There are substantial numbers of young people who, through hard work and perseverance, have done exceptionally well, many exceeding their own expectations.