ARCHWAY’S headteacher Colin Belford said he was ‘very pleased and very proud’ of sixth form students at the school as they celebrated their A and AS-level results this morning, Thursday.

With many pupils now able to get some idea of their results online before the big day, the atmosphere in the sixth form block was relatively subdued compared to previous years but there were still plenty of happy students quietly congratulating one another and chatting excitedly to friends about their grades.

Julian Young, Archway’s head of sixth form, said he was delighted with this year’s results. "It is the best ever A-Level pass rates. The number of As, A stars and distinctions is up massively," he said.

"All of the students I have spoken to so far have got into the universities they were hoping to so all the hard work and effort they put into it this year has really paid off for them."

One Archway pupil who did particularly well was 19-year-old Katie Thomson who got an A in her maths A-level, a distinction star in her business BTEC and two distinction stars in her double sport BTEC.

"I was so nervous before today, I had butterflies in my stomach this morning, but I had worked really hard and I’m really pleased with my results, especially the A in maths which was amazing," said Katie, who has already secured a job as a trainee accountant with a firm in Stonehouse.

Another Archway student who excelled in his A-levels was Charlie Townley, 18, who was joined by his proud father Chas.

Charlie, whose mother Linda – a former independent Stroud District councillor – passed away in late 2010, got an A in maths, an A in computing and a B in physics.

He will now go on to study maths and computing science at the University of Glasgow.

"I got an email early this morning from the university saying my place was confirmed so that was great," said Charlie.

"I was a bit nervous last night. I got to sleep ok but when I woke up this morning I didn’t really feel like eating anything."

He added: "I’m so glad I got the results though. I was getting B grades before the exams but I worked really hard and I just went for it."

Year 12 pupil Charlotte Greaves also had cause for celebration after receiving her AS level results.

The 17-year-old was awarded an A in graphics, an A in English, an A in photography and a B in media studies. "I’m really happy because I wasn’t expecting that," she said.

"I’m surprised because I did well in the ones I thought I was going to do really badly in."

Colin Belford, Archway’s headteacher, said: "We are very pleased and very proud of the achievements of all those young people.

"They have done really well. I think we are probably looking at our best ever set of Year 13 results. We are really delighted."

*Full list of A-level and BTEC results for Archway School will be published online tomorrow.