Oxfordshire's A-Level students have achieved a crop of top grades this year to give the county its best ever results.

Magdalen College School pupils William Wheeler and fellow pupils Adam Godwin, Alexander Jenkins and Tim Marshall

Most state and independent schools improved on last year's results, to either match or exceed the national pass rate of 96 per cent.

Two of the county's state schools -- The Marlborough School, in Woodstock, and Blessed George Napier, in Banbury -- achieved a 100 per cent pass mark for the first time.

While some headteachers have reacted angrily against criticism that the exams are too easy, one Oxford pupil, who got eight A grades yesterday, backed calls for the exams to be made harder.

Magdalen College School pupil William Wheeler, 18, dubbed 'Britain's brainiest boy' two years ago when he got 16 A's at GCSE level, achieved six A grades at A-Level and two distinctions in the Advanced Extension Award.

William, who wants to become a lock-keeper on the River Thames after finishing a classics degree at Magdalen College, Oxford, said it was "harsh" that students had to put up with their results being slated.

But he thought questions on the exam papers were harder 20 years ago.

One of the youngest candidates was Rahul Bali, 12, of Kidlington -- a Gosford Hill School pupil who scored an A grade in his AS maths exam. Among the older students was mother-of-three Alison Chapman, 31, who gained an A-Level in human biology at King Alfred's Community and Sports College, in Wantage, in just one year.

In the joint Didcot Sixth Forms -- based at St Birinus School and Didcot Girls' School -- 98 per cent of students achieved at least two A-Level grades.

St Birinus headteacher Chris Bryan and Didcot Girls' headteacher Paul Taylor-Moore said students should be congratulated instead of having their results devalued by critics of the exam system.

In a joint statement, they said: "It is only in Britain that such a denigrating and negative attitude could be shown to an event, which most other countries would be celebrating.

"It is true we do have some pupils at the top end who have three or four As at A-Level, as do most schools in Oxfordshire. They deserve their moments of glory.

"The preoccupation with A grades also belittles the achievement of others who have done extremely well."

Nick Young, headteacher of Wheatley Park School, said pupils' individual percentage scores can solve the problem of how to differentiate between candidates.

Three pupils at the school -- Katie Enser, Rhona Brown and Christiana Ciminas -- were among the top five candidates in the country out of 4,533 entries in the AQA Fine Art exam.

Patrick Sanders, headteacher of Burford School which achieved a 95 per cent pass rate and a 70 per cent pass rate at grades A-C, said: "They're a very good year. I'm just disappointed with all the press coverage saying it's all getting easier."

Felicity Lusk, the headteacher at Oxford High School which matched its impressive 100 per cent pass rate, said: "There's always the great debate about whether exams are getting easier."

"The results at Oxford High School over the past 10 years have been absolutely consistent and have been right up at the top year-on-year."