HAPPY faces met this week s GCSE results as school children across St Albans collected the news on Thursday. Elizabeth Hitch, Chair of St Albans Secondary Schools Headteachers (STASSH), said there were numerous A and A* success stories, as well as many st

HAPPY faces met this week's GCSE results as school children across St Albans collected the news on Thursday.

Elizabeth Hitch, Chair of St Albans Secondary Schools Headteachers (STASSH), said there were numerous A and A* success stories, as well as many students who achieved way beyond their target grades. She added, "It's the result of the tremendous hard work put in by the students over the past two years; the local head teachers are delighted".

Mrs Hitch, who is head teacher of Beaumont School, was particular proud of her own school's achievements. She said there were many tears of joy on results day. "So many students were emotional when they opened them and now they are rightly proud of their results", said Mrs Hitch.

Most of the Beaumont School pupils will stay on to pursue further courses, including A-Levels, BTECs and the International Baccalaureate. In addition to the year 11 students, there were just over 40 year nine students who gained GCSE French at high grades two years early.

Loreto College students were also in the mood for celebration, especially Elena Huckins who said she was "over the moon" with her 10 A*s. Elena is going to take Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Geography at AS level and said she wants to study Biochemistry at university.

Loreto's good GCSE news followed the equally impressive A-Level results they received earlier in the month. 11 students achieved three A grades and pupils Maeve Dempsey and Marianne Pope secured places at Oxbridge.

Oaklands college improved on its Maths, Science and English results this year, with a three per cent overall increase in the number of students achieving grades A* to C, bringing the total to sixty per cent. Individual success stories include Alvin Rajaram, aged 18, whose results have secured him a place at the University of Bedfordshire to study Sports Science. Over 87 per cent of GCSE science students at Oaklands achieved A* to C grades.