KINGSBRIDGE Community College achieved their best ever GCSE results this year with 88 per cent earning at least five A*-C grades.

Ottlie Whelan was the top performing student this year, taking home eleven A*s and two As, Edward Griffiths earned seven A*s and six As and Rafaela Bly received six A*s and seven As.

Shem Skillman, Naomi Heygate, Ben Payne-Hunt, Charlotte Blake, Charlie Matheson, Kate Peach, Tom Brooks, Nicholas Carson, Jack Carrick, Molly Gentry, Kai Tebay, Gracie Papenfus, Amelia Spanton, Emily Thorpe, Dougie Spence, Holly Ryder, Liberty Quinn, Issac Dundas, Freya Elliot, Bethan Tanton, Alice Emberton-Birchley, Eva Capps, Barnaby Philcox Booth, Toby Trounce, Ollie Riley, Theo Whoitmore, Nikki Rogers, Rhianna Berthoud, Jesse Young, Georgia Langman, Molly McIntosh, William Tucker and Lottie Bohnet all had a clean sweep of As and A* grades.

Well over a third of all grades were either A* or As.

Overall, 79 per cent of students gained A* to C grades including Maths and English. The government is keen for students to achieve the English Baccalaureate which means that students receive above a C in English, Maths, Science, Languages and either History or Geography and KCC hit a new record with 50 per cent of students achieving this - double the national average last year of 24 per cent.

KCC are bucking the national trend as across the country, there has been a fall in grades from 68.8 per cent of students receiving A* to C grades last year, down to 66.6 per cent this year.

This has been blamed on a policy in England to get A* to C grades in Maths and English, requiring resits for 17-year-old who missed the grades last year. Even without these figures, the overall A*-C rate has fallen by 1.3 per cent since last year.

Principal Roger Pope said: ‘In an increasingly competitive world, we all know how important it is for students to achieve at high levels. I am immensely proud of our students, and of the staff who have inspired and supported them every step along the way.

‘These are great results, so many congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to achieve them. The future is bright!’