BEAMING pupils picked up their long-awaited A-level results from Backwell School on Thursday.

The school achieved some of its best results ever with 80 per cent of grades at A*-C and nearly a third of all results were graded A* or A.

Headteacher Julian Baldwin said: “Both our students and our teachers will be delighted with these excellent results-they are the reward for hard work and commitment by everyone concerned.

“Of all the great performances by Backwell students, we are most pleased by the success of Josh McDonagh. Josh suffers from cerebral palsy and has been awarded an A* and two B grades.

“This is a tremendous achievement and we are very proud of Josh. He has been with us for seven years and is a great lad, a super role model and is now going forward to study architecture at university.”

Twenty four students gained at least three A* and A grades and 10 achieved four or more.

Among the success stories were Tim Bossanyi who gained five A* grades, Birgit Ulrich, who added four more A grades to the two A*s she achieved last year, Julien Segers who was awarded four A* and one A grade, and Steve Cross who got four A*s.

Tim, Birgit and Steve are among six students who will be studying at Oxford or Cambridge next year.