Teenagers across Braintree discovered their GCSE results today with some schools celebrating their best ever results.
At Notley High School 62 per cent achieved five or more A*to C grades, with 51 per cent acheiving this with English and maths included
Top performers included Megan Halfacre, 16, from Great Notley, who secured nine A* in maths, history, PE, RE, chemistry, biology, physics, French, English language and Spanish and one A in English literature.
She said: "I wasn't expecting that at all, it was a complete shock, I thought I might get a couple of As, but this so much better,"
Megan intends to go to Chelmsford County High School to study biology, chemistry, psychology, economics and Spanish.
Her friend Amy Barthurst, 16, from Great Notley, was also celebrating her good results, with three A*s in maths, RE and Spanish and five As in French, biology, chemistry, physics, English language, plus two Bs in art and English literature.
"I really like languages, languages and maths are my favourite subjects. I was only two marks off getting an A* in French so I was a bit disappointed with that as I really wanted to get an A*.
Amy plans to go to Colchester Sixth Form College to study French, Spanish, RE and maths.
"I want to be a translator, I could speak French for as long as I can remember, I'm pretty much fluent.
Dad, Mark and mum Jo were also at Notley High to see Amy get her results.
Head teacher Simon Thompson, said: "We are very pleased with the achievements of our students this year.
"Students across the entire ability range have performed well and we look forward to welcoming many of them back to Braintree Sixth Form at the start of next term. We also wish those moving on elsewhere every success in the future."
"As well as congratulating our students today, I would also wish to thank all our staff for their tireless work with our students and all our parents for the support they have offered their sons and daughters."
Tabor Academy in Braintree is also celebrating having achieved its best ever science results with 89 per cent of students achieving A*to C grade.
Overall nearly 60 per cent of students achieved at least five A* to C grades this year, with the highest achieving boy, Ben Prudence receiving 12 GCSE's at A*and A grades including five A* and seven A grades and the highest achieving girl, Flora Holliday, getting 11 A*and A grades.
Abbey Hancock secured two A*, seven As and three Bs,Bethany Blood received one A*, one A, five Bs, four C, Jordan Barlow got one A*, three As, four Bs, our Cs, Celia Prevott, four Bs, six Cs and Tom Everard with five A*, five As and two Bs.
There were also some excellent results in PE and dance with 83 per cent of students achieving A* to C in PE and 82 per cent in dance.
Staff and students at Alec Hunter Academy gave themselves a collective pat on the back after the school achieved record beating results in mathematics for the second consecutive year, as 65 per cent of students gained a C grade or better, a rise of three per cent on the previous all-time best of 62 per cent last year.
The headline figure of five or more A* to C grades including English and maths is unclear until a clerical error in the exam boards marking is resolved.
This is due to the fact that the school has identified an error in AQA's English language grading, resulting in 31 students being awarded no marks for controlled assessment carried forward from Year 10.
The school anticipates that, once resolved, the school's performance could show a slight improvement on the 40 per cent achieved in 2013.
Headteacher Trevor Lawn said "We are delighted with the progress our students have made in mathematics but, like many schools this year, our English results have fallen short of our expectations and this has impacted on the headline figure.
"It appears that, once again, this is a national trend, due in no small measure to changes in the assessment framework, so we are not alone.
"In many other subject areas, such as technology, statistics, PE, religious education, art and triple science, we have seen high standards being achieved and are pleased with these outcomes.
"This was particularly pleasing for the school, since the figure was achieved without the opportunity to enter students several times, and against a background of tougher grade boundaries."
Some of Alec Hunter's highest achieving pupils include Dickson Dokowe with five A* grades, four As and two Bs, Hope Dodge, with four A*, six As and one B, Lara Walker got four A*, five As and two Bs, Chelsea Clark got two A* grades, six As and four Bs.
Amy Goodall received one A* grade, eight As, one B and one C, Emily Draper got one A* grade, six As, three Bs and one C, Isobel Chandler got one A* grade, five As and six Bs, Blake Edge six A grades, three Bs and one C.
A further six students achieved five A to A* grades, including Callum Jones, Eleanor Miller, Bethan Reading, Holly Roffey, Ben Slayman and Lydia Swan.
Every child left Alec Hunter with at least one GCSE pass at grades A*to G, and 97 per cent with five or more A*to G grades.
