THE Hook family from Wroughton came bearing gifts for staff at Ridgeway School on A-level results day to mark the end of an era.

Their youngest son Jonny is on his way to study business management at Swansea University after getting an A,B, and C in business, PE and geography.

All three of Pam and Martin Hook’s children went through the school.

“It has been 13 years. The school has been a wonderful experience all the way through for everyone,” said Martin.

Handing over hampers containing goodies like coffee and biscuits for the teachers’ break times, Pam said: “They are just very committed. They have always been very supportive.

“We know how dedicated the teachers are and how much hard work they have put into supporting our children. They have given them self-belief.”

Head of sixth form Helen Dixon and principal James Povoas, who both had children receiving results, were on hand to congratulate and console students.

“It is a relief but I’m so unspeakably proud of all of them,” said Mrs Dixon.

“They have worked tirelessly.”

“The sixth form here is a partnership between students and staff we go through it together.”

She said only three students had failed to get into their university of choice but one had already been accepted by another through clearing and she was confident the others would be snapped up.

Mr Povoas said: “We’re really delighted. It is a really successful year.”

The new courses were more challenging and had more technical content, but the students had performed extremely well and there had been some exceptional achievers.

“The number of students actually getting into their places this year has been amazing,” he said.

“I think as the years go by and as teachers are able to understand the content and grade boundaries better, it will provide increasing confidence.”

The school’s headline figure of three A*s to E grades had gone up by 23 per cent from 50 per cent to 73 per cent. The amount of students achieving two A*s to E grades was also up to 89 per cent.

One of the students, Will Fieldsend from Broad Hinton earned three As, enough to send him to Nottingham University to study natural sciences. After that he hopes to go into research.

He was pleased with his results but said it had been quite stressful not knowing what to expect.

“We didn’t have anything to judge it against and there weren’t any past papers,” he said.