FELSTED students are today celebrating some extremely good GCSE results. Some 71.5 per cent of all results achieved were a A*, A or B grades; 46.7 per cent of all entries were A* or A grades; and 94 per cent of all entries achieved a C grade of better. Ev

FELSTED students are today celebrating some extremely good GCSE results.

Some 71.5 per cent of all results achieved were a A*, A or B grades; 46.7 per cent of all entries were A* or A grades; and 94 per cent of all entries achieved a C grade of better.

Every student also exceeded the state benchmark of five grade C passes as minimum.

An impressive 28 students achieved all A* or A grades across eight or more subjects, with 18 of these achieving either 10 or 11 A* and A grades.

Stephanie Byrne achieved the astonishing feat of 11 A* grades with the other 17 pupils gaining only one or two As in a row of A*s.

The following top performers all achieved 11 A* and A grades:

Stephanie Byrne, from Lt Baddow

Thomas Coleby, from Stansted

Adam Jones, from Chelmsford

Rebecca Mansfield, from Hoddeson, Herts

Leanne McCallum, from Chelmsford

Sophie Nehammer, from Braintree

Alexander Rorison, from Gt.Leighs

Madeleine Seacombe, from Saffron Walden

Toby Seers, from High Roding

Andrea Smith-Valls, from Felsted

Lucy Stuchfield, from Felsted

Alec Young, from Terling

These results were up on the previous year and headmaster Dr Mike Walker said: "Our students have worked very hard and accepted the challenge of aiming high as well taking advantage of such a rich range of extra-curricular opportunities in sport, music, the arts and other areas.

"They deserve genuine congratulations for these excellent results. It is a team effort and they and the teaching staff have worked collaboratively and to great effect over the last year in particular. We are very proud of their performance.

"Things are happening at Felsted and our students are also playing their part in a dynamic phase of development for the school. Well done to all of them."

Felsted's top performer was Stephanie Byrne, who achieved 11 A*'s. She will be taking A Levels in Geography, History, Spanish and Chemistry and will be part of Felsted's Oxbridge programme next year. Her dream is to read History at Cambridge.

"I am so pleased to get an A* in History as I found the exam really tough," she said.

Head of Science at Felsted, Steve Jones, said: "Stephanie scored 1185 out of a maximum of 1200 in Biology, Chemistry and Physics combined. This is more than exceptional and an extremely tough result to achieve."

Thomas Coleby was delighted with his results, gaining seven A*'s and four A grades. He will be taking A Levels in Geography, History, Economics, and Chemistry at Felsted with the aim to possibly read Law at university. Thomas has been at Felsted since the age of nine and has fully immersed himself in all the sporting opportunities available.

He said: "I did so much better than I thought I would and will certainly be celebrating with my family and friends later."

Andrea Smith-Valls was over the moon to gain six A*'s and five A grades. A talented linguist and thespian, Andrea dreams of gaining a place at RADA in London.

But first, she will be taking five A Levels in Theatre Studies, French, Spanish, English and History. Andrea recently gained a place with the National Youth Theatre to take part in a Stadium Arts performance in Greenwich as an experiment for the London 2012 Olympics.

Toby Seers will also be celebrating his results. He gained seven A*'s and four A grades. Toby has been at Felsted since the age of four and has been involved in all areas of the School - he is about to embark on his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award and also will be performing in the School production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat this term. He will be taking A Levels in Geography, History, Economics and French with a view to reading History at university.