CONGRATULATIONS were in order at Castle School in Thornbury as students scored some of the best marks in the sixth form’s history.

After months of hard work and intense revision and a nail-biting wait, results were finally in for the school’s 170 A-level pupils last week.

For most of them, Thursday was a day to celebrate excellent grades but most importantly to finally breathe and relax.

Proud head teacher Melanie Warnes said she was thrilled with the students’ results.

She told the Gazette: "We have got record results. Our A and A* have really gone through the roof. Students performed to their best of their abilities across the board."

Out of 170 students, 25 received at least three As. And 10 per cent of all A-level pupils achieved A* while 30 per cent were awarded either an A or A*. The pass rate was a whopping 99.4 per cent.

Lily Barton, 18, received a double distinction in child care and health and social care and an A in photography and will be taking next year out to gain more experience in care before applying to university.

"I’m pleased," she said. "I want to be a children’s nurse. I’m having the year out. I want to be a health assistant at a hospital to get more experience."

The school received particularly good news this year as four of its students were accepted in both Cambridge and Oxford.

Jake Eady, 18, will be Cambridge-bound in October to study music at Trinity College.

Jake, who was particularly nervous about his French result was ecstatic when he found out he achieved an A in his exam.

He said: "I’m over the moon. I got two A* and two As. I found myself analysing my exams and going over them in the days coming up to today."

His schoolmate Laura Hooper, 18, will be reading Philosophy at Jesus College in Cambridge. She got three A* and one A.

"It has not sunk in yet," she said. "I’m very pleased. I didn’t sleep last night at all."