Celebrations as records broken

At Gosford Hill School, Kidlington, pupil Nicholas Youngman scored 600 out of 600 for pure and further maths.

He was one of three pupils at the school who got top five results for the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance exam board maths syllabus.

The others were Katherine Andrews, 18, of Foxdown Close, Kidlington, and Michael Berry, 18, of Lime Crescent, Bicester.

The school's overall pass rate was 90 per cent. Carol Minshaw, the head of the sixth form said: "This is not an everyday event. This is outstanding. We are extremely proud."

Nationally, the A-level pass rate rose for the 18th year running to 89.1 per cent. Girls notched up 18.1 per cent A grades, compared to 17.5 per cent achived by boys.

At Headington Girls School, Oxford, the star pupils were Jackie Stroud, 18, of South Parks Road, Oxford, and Sharon Chan, 19, of Hong Kong, who both came in the top five scores for A-level environmental science in the country for the AQA exam board.

Jackie also came in the top five in Britain for the AQA course in geography. The girls achieved a 98.8 per cent pass rate slightly better than last year's figure of 97.4 per cent. Of the 89 girls who sat the exams, 40.7 per cent got A-grades and 19 got A grades in all the subjects they took. A and B grades were achieved by 68.8 per cent.

At Oxford High School for Girls, pupils gained a 100 per cent pass rate, nudging past last year's figure of 99.54 per cent.

Of the 79 candidates 64.66 per cent got grade As and eight pupils got As in four subjects. Radley College, the public school in Radley, near Abingdon, again reported excellent results with a 100 per cent pass rate.

And 79.13 per cent achieved grades A and B, roughly the same figure as last year.

Seven boys got five As, 15 got four As and 20 achieved three As.

Warden Angus McPhail said: "The results are broadly similar to last year and we are very pleased for this year group."

Records were broken at Magdalen College School where 18 out of 69 boys got As in three subjects. Star pupils Harry Bulstrode and Nick Hine both got five A grades. The pass rate was 96 per cent. The top pupil at Wychwood School, Banbury Road, Oxford, was Stephanie Yau, 19, who got five A grades.

The school's pass rate was 95.5 per cent and 15 pupils sat the exams.

Matthew Arnold School in Cumnor, Oxford, smashed all previous records with its pass rate of 97 per cent beating last year's figure by two per cent. And 32 per cent of the grades were A or B.

Headteacher Adrian Percival said: "I really didn't think it was going to be possible to improve on last year's results, but the Students came through with an astonishingly good performance." At Cherwell School, Oxford, 32 per cent got A grades, 55.5 per cent got A or B grades and the pass rate was 92 per cent.

At Milham Ford School, Harberton Mead, Oxford, the 26 girls who sat A-levels achieved an 87 per cent pass rate and 18 per cent of the grades were A and B. The pass rate in seven out of nine subjects was 100 per cent.

At Peers Upper School, Littlemore, Oxford, the 36 candidates matched last year's pass rate of 81 per cent. There were 12 A grades which is the most achieved at the school for many years. Star pupil Andrew Northover, 18, got a distinction at GNVQ Business Studies and an A grade at maths.

Headteacher Chris Dark said: "This reflects a huge amount of hard work and effort from staff and pupils many of whom have part-time jobs and commitments outside of school."

Pupils achieved the best results yet at d'Overbroeck's College, Park Town, Oxford, where the pass rate was 96 per cent and 54 per cent of the grades were A and B. The 138 students took 37 different subjects at the college which specialises in coaching candidates for medicine and vetinary science.

Principal Sami Cohen said: "These results are terrific. Not only are they our best ever, but they are also the latest in a sequence of excellent results we've had in recent years. "Every one of our medical and vet applicants has successfully gained a place at medical schools."

At Cheney School, Oxford, the pass rate of 91 per cent was the highest in the school's history and 40 per cent of the passes were at grades A and B. Headteacher Alan Lane, said: "Six students each gained grade A in three or more subjects and a further three students gained distinctions on GNVQ advanced level vocational courses. Students and staff have worked very hard to achieve these results and I am delighted with their success."

At The Oxford School, the pass rate was 80 per cent one per cent better than last year.

Top pupil, 18, Saiful Islam, of Cowley Road, Oxford, got three A grades and will go to Aston University to read Pharmacy. The 100 candidates at Wheatley Park School, at Wheatley, near Oxford, achieved a pass rate was 89.3 per cent and 39 per cent got A and B grades.

At St Augustine of Canterbury School, Oxford, the pass rate was 97 per cent. Star pupils included Rosemarie Lee, 16, who got an A grade for A-level Mandarin Chinese and had spent the summer working with Oxford University brain scientist Prof Susan Greenfield. The Abingdon Consortium of Abingdon College, Fitzharrys, John Mason and Larkmead schools had their best ever A-level results with a pass rate of 95 per cent. The 220 students produced results well up on the national average with more than half the pupils gaining grades A-C. Seven pupils got at least three grade As. They were: Martin Kraftl, Tom Wallace, James Matejtscuk, Elizabeth Ward, Rebecca Cummings, Ray Chen and Abigail Pearl.

Pupils at the School of St Helen and St Katharine broke two school records with their results. First was the number of girls achieving four grade As at A Level nine out of this year's 77 candidates. Second was the average number of UCAS points for university entrance, at 29.03 the highest ever.

At Abingdon School 68.3 per cent of boys achieved grades A and B at A Level and 50 per cent grade A. And 40 boys out of a year group of 128 got at least three As, 17 got at least four As and three boys achieved five As.

The pass rate for the joint St Birinus and Didcot Girls' School sixth form was 92 per cent. There was an increase in A, B and C grades.

In a joint statement, headteachers Chris Bryan and Jeanette Hebbert congratulated students on their hard work and staff for their excellent teaching.