SMILES, joy and congratulations were the order of the day as Farnborough Hill girls received their GCSE results.

Taking government changes in their stride, they kept their focus to achieve an impressive 86 per cent A* to B, with 59 per cent of all results graded at A*/A. The big story was that 51 girls, over half of the cohort, achieved A*/A in six or more subjects.

This was the first year of major changes to the GCSE examinations with English, English literature and mathematics being graded on a scale of 9 to 1. The new grades of 8 and 9 are equivalent to an A* under the previous system.

As usual there were some outstanding performances, but equally pleasing were the results of girls who had overcome challenging circumstances.

Of the 17 girls with straight A*/A grades, top performers were Lauren Fowler with 11 subjects at A; Emily Bird and Maddie Wayland with 10 A*s; Kimran Birring with nine A*s and two A grades; and Abi Terry with nine A*s and one A grade.

Thalia Smale, Ciara Smith and Annabel Bradshaw received eight A* grades among their haul, while Sophia Broxis, Lauren Deverell, Laura Duhig and Natasha Selby, had seven A*s included in their results.

Headteacher Alexandra Neil said: “The girls have all worked really hard for their GCSEs despite the unsettling nature of being the first cohort to sit these new examinations.

“The partnership between school and home with the girls at the centre has been a great success.

“I am hugely grateful to our teaching staff for their commitment and hard work. The girls are a delightful year group and I look forward to welcoming them back into the sixth form in a couple of weeks.