THE principal at a Wroughton school has spoken of his delight after the hard work of the students there led to a ten per cent rise in results.

The remarkable improvement saw 73 per cent of students at The Ridgeway School score between A* and C in five of their GCSE exams.

Principal, James Povoas, said: “We are really pleased with the GCSE results this year at the school.

“I would like to congratulate all the students for their hard work and commitment to achieve such good results.

“I would also like to thank all the staff for their endless hours of support to enable this.”

An impressive 12 per cent of students received eight A* to A grades.

Among them were good friends Eliza Griffiths, Eleanor Day and Stacy Oswald – between the three of them they walked away with 21 A* grades.

Eliza, from Wanborough, said: “They’re even better than I was hoping for, I’m really happy with them.”

Proving that it isn’t just the Ridgeway girls who can get top marks were Sam Wood and Marcus Raymond.

Sam, 16, from Lawns, achieved an impressive six A*s and three As while Marcus got the same but with an extra B for good measure.

Still letting his results sink in, Sam said: “I’m over the moon, really pleased.”

Sam will be back next year where he hopes to focus on science and maths in the next stage of his journey to his ultimate goal of working in physics.

Sleepless nights before results day were a common complaint from those picking up their envelopes on Thursday, but one Ridgeway student had come up with a clever solution.

Cat Rogers, 16, from West Swindon, discovered that jet lag is just the ticket.

Cat, who got five A*s, two As and two Bs, said: “I’ve just come back from holiday which was a good distraction, I got jet lag but it meant I could sleep all night last night.

“I’m really happy with my results, some of them are a lot better than I was expecting.

“I found science really hard so I’m particularly happy with those.

“I hope my parents are proud, I’m sure they will be.”