The headteacher of Highgate School has lauded his students’ ability to cope with ‘tougher, fatter GCSEs’ on a record-breaking results day.

Students scored a remarkable 72.3per cent A* total in the graded exams, and 75.2pc in the 8 to 9 equivalent – an improvement on last year in which the total was 65pc. The A* to A count was 92.7pc.

The independent school had 47pc of entries graded in the numeric system (9-1) and 53pc letters (A* to U).

Headteacher Adam Pettitt said: “We are proud and delighted: our Year 11s have shown that tougher, fatter GCSEs with searching questions are just what the academic doctor ordered.

“Happily we see exams coming closer to what and how we wish to teach, and no longer have GCSE students at Highgate having to kick their feet waiting for the excitements of A-level.

“They have done brilliantly, pitching themselves hard against rigorous tests and shown just how well - across the ability range - young people do when they’re allowed to aspire.

“This is a generation that’s been freed to think and puzzle, rather than jump through hoops, and has done so with great gusto.”