TOP grades swept the board at Tavistock College last week as students celebrated receiving their hard-earned A Level results.

The college's year 13 leavers achieved a 99% pass rate for the exams, with 75% gaining a pass at an A* to C grade.

Forty eight per cent gained A* to B grades and 23% gained A* and A grades.

Principal at the college Helen Salmon said she was very pleased with the results and the strong performance from the students.

Mrs Salmon said: 'These results continue to demonstrate the college's strong performance at A level. This is a testament to students' and staffs' hard work. It is also wonderful to see so many of our students going on to study degrees at prestigious universities.

'With the fees going up next year, there has been much more demand for places this year and the standards are higher now for university places so I'm doubly pleased at how well they have done.'

Most of the students got into their first choice universities, including Robin Jones who gained four As at A2 level and one A at AS level to win a place at Oxford University to study medicine.

After opening his results, Robin said: 'I am really happy and really surprised. I'm very excited about the future.'

A new A* grade was introduced this year, for universities to differentiate between the top 5%, and a number of students were pleased to have achieved this top grade last week.

Sebastian Reid gained three A*s at A2 and an A at AS to get him a place at Birmingham to study physics with particle physics and cosmology.

Kit Tigwell achieved two A*s and an A to study medicine at Nottingham, Matthew Havron gained an A* and two As and will be going on to study engineering at Southampton, and George Rodgers gained an A* and two As at A2 and an A at AS and will be taking a gap year before heading off to university.

George said: 'Thanks to Tavistock College for a great seven years and for helping me on my way to an exciting future.'

Helen Salmon added: 'These excellent results demonstrate very clearly that students at the college can do very well indeed.

'This has given us a great platform to build on for further success in the future with the students coming through.'