RECORDS were set in East Cambridgeshire schools, when the GCSE results were released today. The results were in line scores across England, Northern Ireland and Wales, where More than 600,000 students have received results, almost one in five of which we

RECORDS were set in East Cambridgeshire schools, when the GCSE results were released today.

The results were in line scores across England, Northern Ireland and Wales, where

More than 600,000 students have received results, almost one in five of which were an A* or A.

Soham Village College students achieved the best set of GCSE results in the school's history.

Nineteen students achieved 10 or more GCSEs at A* or A grade and three - Alice Taylor, Emmanuelle Fowler and Gabrielle Letimier - scored one of the top five marks in the country in English Literature.

The school's highest performers were Stephen Eddison, Ben Chambers, Alex Mitchell, Emma Logan, Michael Lee, Abigail Durrant and Katherine Dunkley who each gained at least 12 GCSEs each with a grade A or A*.

Seventy three per cent of students achieved at least five GCSEs at A* to C and 99 per cent gained at least five GCSEs at A* to G.

Principal, Dr Carin Taylor, said: We are delighted by the results achieved by our students this year. Such outstanding results are testimony to the motivation and ability of our young people, the support of their families and the dedication of our staff at Soham Village College, all of whom worked very hard.

"Students of all abilities achieved well. Twenty per cent of all GCSEs at Soham were awarded at A or A* grade. Strong results in Mathematics and English mean that an exceptional number of students have good passes in core as well as their other subjects. We are so pleased that all our students have such a strong foundation for the next stage of their education and training and congratulate them all on this achievement."

Chair of Governors, Mrs Nicola Close, said: "This is yet again an excellent set of results for Soham. All praise to students and staff."

More than 44 per cent of all GCSE examinations taken by King's School Ely pupils were graded A or A* with one in eight passing 10 or more subjects with these top grades.

Top achiever was Maia Tanner with 13 A grades, including 10 A*. Anna Coleridge achieved 12 A grade passes including seven A* and Georgina Cuckston achieved 12 straight As and five at A*. There were 11 As, 10 of them A*, for Adam Reckless and 11 for Farrel Grey, five of which were A*. There were 11 As, including six A*, for Reggie Chamberlain-King who also got one B and a C.

Between them, twins Natasha and Alex Calder celebrated a total of 23 passes. Alex got four A*, seven As and a B and Natasha got six A* and five As.

Overall, per cent of passes were graded A* to C at the school and 99 per cent of pupils achieved five or more passes.

There was a100 per cent pass rate at the school.

Head, Sue Freestone, said: "GCSEs represent the first opportunity for young people to prove themselves in a currency that is nationally recognised. King's students have done very well this year and their results are well deserved."

The GCSE results follow a similarly successful set of A-level results with 80 per cent of passes were graded A to C.

A record 53 per cent of results were graded A* to C and there was a 95 per cent pass rate at City of Ely Community College.

Principal Ian Gartshore said: "The results were particularly good in business and ICT, which reflects the college's specialist status.

"This excellent set of results is thanks to a huge effort on the part of pupils and staff. "We do a lot of mentoring here. There's no more study leave, we keep pupils studying and revising in school right up to their exams and did a revision school over Easter. "Several members of staff give up their time to help and monitor students' progress out of hours under the mentoring scheme, supported by our mentoring manger, Danielle Gott. There are five or six people that come in from the community to help out too, and we're always willing to welcome a few extra mentors, subject to Criminal Records Bureau checks.

Anna Cachapa, originally from Portugal, came to pick up her string of As with her parents.

"Five years ago, before I came over here, I couldn't even speak English, she said, and now I've got an A in English Literature."

Anna has also passed her AS Level Portuguese with flying colours and will go on to study Geography, German, French and Spanish at Hills Road Sixth Form College.

Natalie Prince achieved seven As and is following a family tradition set by her maths teacher mother, studying for A-levels in Maths, Economics, Accountancy and History.

Air cadet Ben Montgomery was thrilled with his seven As, two A*s and Distinction in ICT. He took GCSE Maths last year and will carry on the subject at Hills Road Sixth Form College with A levels in Double Maths, History, Chemistry and Physics.

Despite high-flying students heading for Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, many are staying to continue their studies at City of Ely Sixth Form College. Lucy Fell got the grades to get into Hills Road but prefers to stay: "I love it here."

Jamie Roberts put his success down to a lucky teabag which he had on his desk all through exams.

"Even though I had the teabag to help me along I did much better than I thought," he said. But the teabag was not the same lucky one he had during the exams. "I thought it had gone off so this is a fresh one." Jamie got 4As and 4A*s and will study Art, Business Studies, Government and Politics, and Maths.