MIDHURST Rother College pupils and teaching staff were also celebrating after improving on last year’s impressive GCSE results,

Some 71 per cent of the teenagers sachieved grades 4-9 (pass or better) in English and maths, with 30 per cent of English entries receiving grades 7-9, and nearly one-in-five in maths.

Trinity Gulland gained eight GCSEs at grade nine and Oliver Jones bagged seven, while Cadan Welch, Sophie Howe and Jack Crossley-West each achieved three grade nines, and Sophie Cook, Tate Furlonge-Walker, Andrew Grzywacz, Oscar Lloyd and Marianna Smitherham each gained two.

Overall, one-in-six grades awarded was a seven or above.

College principal Stuart Edwards, said: “I am extremely pleased with these results, which reward the hard work of all our students this year.

“With the changed grading structure and new curriculum in many subjects, we always knew this year’s results might be challenging, so it is particularly pleasing that we have done so well and surpassed last year’s excellent performance.”