Pupils at South Hampstead High School were celebrating this morning as they collected the school’s best ever GCSE results, with a record-breaking 77.4% of entries awarded the top A* grade (up 13% on 2016) whilst an incredible 94.6% of entries were graded A*/A – another record for the school.

Ham & High: Students at South Hampstead High School were over the moon with their GCSE's Picture: Sara BellStudents at South Hampstead High School were over the moon with their GCSE's Picture: Sara Bell (Image: Archant)

83 girls in a year group of 107 achieved a clean sweep of straight A*/A grades and 39% of the Y11 students gained nine or more A* grades.

Pupils took the English language GCSE with the new 9-1 graded system and 30% of these pupils achieved the magical ‘9’, almost 15 times the national average of 2.2%. 58% of all the English Language entries were graded an 8 or 9.

Alisha O’Brien Coker, 16, from Harrow was just one of the high schools’s stars who gained a 9 in English language. “I’m very surprised but so grateful,” she said.

“My family were ecstatic when they found out. I took out an extra month so that I could prepare for my results. I remember feeling sick in anticipation for my exams. But my mum and sister in law kept me grounded and were so supportive,” she added.

Alisha will be going onto sixth form to study English, history, politics, and classical civilization.

Gracie Li, 16, from St Johns Wood, also achieved a 9 and excelled elsewhere attaining A*’s in Greek and Latin, and an A* distinction in further maths.

Headmistress, Vicky Bingham, said: “Congratulations to all our year 11 pupils for these stellar results. With much debate at national level about boys reportedly outperforming girls, I am thrilled that girls at South Hampstead are doing so exceptionally well across the board.

“They have achieved these results with hard work and determination but have also managed to keep the exams in perspective. I would like to thank all my colleagues who have laid the groundwork for our pupils’ success so effectively.”