THE HOLT School is celebrating its best GCSE results ever with a 99.8 per cent pass rate and 83.9 per cent of candidates achieving the benchmark of five A*-C grades including English and maths.

Well above four in ten (45 per cent) of all papers taken resulted in A*-A grades.

Stellar reports came from Kate Bryson, Grace Dolan and Lauren Webb who achieved 11 A*s.

Ellie Austin, Sadhbh Lynch, Abigail Shaw were not far behind with 10 A*s each.

Alicia Kumar, who scored eight A*s and four As, is going to Farnborough Sixth Form College to study history, biology and either psychology or chemistry.

She said: "I was surprised to do so well and I am very happy.

"My parents are over the moon too!"

In all, 193 candidates sat GCSE exams this year and the school's EBacc score was 63.7.

Headteacher Suzanne Richards was confident the scores of the new Progress 8 and Attainment 8 measures (0.73 and 61 respectively) would compare positively with the national picture.

She added: "The students have been a great year group who really demonstrated a growth mindset.

"We wish them all every success in their future studies."