The principal of Greig City Academy has lauded the ‘outstanding’ achievements of his GCSE students, with some of them setting their sights on Oxbridge degrees.

The highest achieving student was Abdus Ali who bagged two of the new top grade 9 awards in both English and maths. He also managed four A* grades in the three triple sciences and in GCSE history, as well as three A grades and two Bs.

Abdus, who put his success down to hard work and good teaching, was most pleased with his A* in physics and Grade 9 in maths. His mother was in the bank when she heard the news and ran all the way home to tell the rest of the family. Abdus will be doing A-level sciences and maths in the sixth form and wants to study medicine at either Oxford or Cambridge.

Nafisa Ali (no relation to Abdus was delighted to find out that she was the highest performing girl. She achieved four A* grades and grade 8s in English and maths with a further four A grades and one B. Nafisa – who wants to do a degree in biomedical studies in the future – says her results were two grades higher in every subject than she had predicted that she would get yesterday.

Andrew Scott, head of Year 11, said: “I am absolutely thrilled at the performance of the students. It was very special to see scenes of absolute delight, and of course of relief, as students tore open their results envelopes and saw how well they had done.

“They have either met, or in many cases exceeded our expectations. They deserve their success having worked very hard, with groups of students in school at 7am revising before the exam season started. It has been a privilege working with the students, and I am delighted that so many have done so well.”

Nader Soltan was one of the Year 11 students that crewed the school yacht Scaramouche in the five-day Fastnet Race recently, and he proved to be just as good with his studies as he was with ocean racing after achieving two A*s, four A grades and three B grades.

Principal Paul Sutton said: “It is wonderful to see the students opening their envelopes and being really pleased with what they have achieved. There are some outstanding results achieved this year through a great deal of hard work from all concerned.

“Students, parents and staff can be proud of these results. Not everyone is capable of getting A*s in every subject but when students can say that they have done their best, done better than they thought they would and achieved their potential, that is the most important thing.

“We are all really proud of the students and their achievements. Well done.”