TALENTED students and staff are celebrating after receiving record high A Level results.

Plume Academy in Maldon secured their best ever A*- E grade pass rate, coming in at 98.6 per cent, beating their 2016 record of 98.3 per cent, whilst also achieving the highest ever total points score per student when the 124-strong Year 12 cohort collected their exam results this morning.

The percentage of students achieving three and four A*- A grades increased, and nearly half of all A Level entries at the academy achieved A*- B grades.

Of those who applied to go to university, every single student secured a place with the vast majority being at their preferred choice.

Highlights from the year group included Samuel Digby who got two A*s and As, securing one of the only six places on a Chemistry course at The University of Oxford, Daisy Goddard with A*s, an A and a B who will be studying history at University College London and Ben King with an A*, two As and a B, who will be studying law at Leeds University.

Ruth Clark, head of Plume Sixth Form, said: “I’m very, very pleased with the tremendous results from our wonderful students, there has been exceptional performances on all levels.

“It is also a huge credit to our teaching staff, who will have worked as hard as the pupils to get them to where they are today.

“They will have been just as anxious as the students, but finding out the results early this morning, it was so nice to be able to walk in without a single worry and celebrate with them.”

Plume Principal Carl Wakefield said: “I am exceptionally proud of this year’s A Level results and in particular with the overall A*-E outcome as well as the increased amount of students securing places at university and securing high quality apprenticeships.

“However, the bottom line is that all of this cannot happen without a huge amount of hard work being put in over the past two years by our students themselves, and whilst working in collaboration with a fully committed and highly skilled team of staff.

“It has been a real privilege to work alongside our Year 13 cohort throughout their time in the College. Having got to know many of them exceptionally well over the past two years, I can honestly say that whilst I will be very sad to see them move on to the next stage of their lives, wherever they go, I am extremely confident they will continue to do the academy, their families and of course themselves proud.”