A budding linguist finished top of the year at Channing School, getting a stunning 11 grade 9s.

Lily Blue Harper was among four pupils who got top marks in all of her exams. She has been at Channing since reception and was part of the first cohort to take the full course in Greek.

She said: "All the teachers at Channing have inspired me and taking Greek was a natural progression from Latin which I have always enjoyed."

She is looking to go on to study classics at university, and has chosen to do A-levels in English, German and Latin.

Meanwhile Olivia Ferraro overcame serious health issues during her GCSE years to get a grade 9 in biology and 8s in history and physics. She credited headteacher Barbara Elliot with inspiring her.

"I really felt the school was on my side," she said.

For their classmate Rebekah Treganna, her results were the latest association for her family and Channing. Her cousin Lucy and mum had previously gone there. She was another who got grade 9s in all her exams.

She praised the head of classics, Sarah Elliot: "[She] always goes the extra mile. Her passion rubs off on us all!"

The results were another stellar set for the school in the Bank, Highgate. Headmistress Barbara Elliott said 84.81pc of grades were 7 to 9. 63.75pc were grades 8 and 9.

The private school charges £20,370 a year for pupils to attend.

Jacqui Newman, director of studies reported: "These excellent grades throughout are the result of sustained hard work and an appetite for achievement evident among these Year 11 pupils.

"All GCSEs are now on the new grading system of 1-9, with 7-9 being equivalent to the old A-A*. The important difference is that while A*s were frequently awarded by examining bodies in the past, a Grade 9 is now much harder to achieve, therefore we are delighted to celebrate this noteworthy set of results".

The school will also welcome a head of engineering in September adding to the school's STEM provision according to assistant head Dan Grossman.