Among those celebrating their results at the Joyce Frankland Academy in Newport was Lydia Michaelides, who bagged three A* grades in maths, chemistry and biology and has a highly sought after place to study veterinary medicine at St Catharine’s College Cambridge.

Lydia, 18 from Quendon said: “I did work really hard but I did better than I thought I would.”

The head of sixth form, Abby Burt, said: “Lydia is a truly phenomenal young lady. As well as working for her own exams, she was a mentor to younger people taking their As levels. She has done work experience at vets’ practices. She spent last summer rhino trekking in South Africa, she really has a lot of gumption.”

Mrs Burt added: “We are thrilled and very proud of all our students. It’s been a happy year and this is a happy day. They are a lovely group of young people.”

Overall, the school achieved 70 per cent at A* to C and 49 per cent at A* to B.