STUDENTS at King's College, Taunton, have recorded an outstanding set of results.

Year 11 pupils have been celebrating their results with staff, family and friends, marking yet another year of excellent academic and personal achievement.

Prior to results day, exams regulator Ofqual warned a return to pre-pandemic grading means this year's GCSE results in England would be lower than last year and similar to levels in 2019.

Covid-19 led to an increase in top GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.

Despite all this, King’s pupils have risen to the occasion and produced an excellent set of grades.

Candidates were entered for a mixture of GCSE and IGCSE courses, so grades are a mixture of numbers (9 to 1) and letters (A* to E), with grades 9, 8 and 7 at GCSE equating to A* and A.

Ruby B, Cameron W, Greta S and Lucas L achieved an extraordinary clean sweep of 9s and A*s, and a further seven pupils achieved nine or more grades at A*, A, 9, 8 or 7. A total of 51 pupils out of the year group achieved three As or more, with the maths, music and English departments all gaining over half of the top grades.

Twins Hal and Gray S were delighted with seven A*s and As apiece, having both excelled in maths and English, while harpist Poppy C achieved an outstanding nine A*s and As including in maths, biology, chemistry and English. Both Poppy C and Ruby B have their sights set on studying medicine and will benefit from the futures programme offered in the Sixth Form at King's that supports pupils entering the medical professions.

While top performers joined King’s from a wide range of different schools, it was particularly pleasing to see pupils who started their journey at King’s College Prep perform so well, including Ruby B, Cameron W and Poppy C.

Commenting on the results, new headmaster Michael Sloan, said: “I’m delighted our pupils at King’s have once again achieved superb GCSE results. These results reflect their hard work and effort, and the dedication of our excellent teaching staff.”

Pupils will be returning to King’s College in September to begin their A-level or BTEC studies in the Sixth Form, to be joined by more than 20 new Sixth Formers – a mixture of local, UK boarding and overseas pupils.

They will study in the new Sixth Form Centre that provides opportunities for collaborative working, formal and semi-formal academic experiences and discussions, all of which are crucial to developing intellectual thinkers.