The sixth form centre in Valentines High School, Cranbrook Road, Gants Hill, was buzzing with excitement this morning as A-level students came to pick up their results.

With 100 per cent of students achieving A to E, 83 pc of the grades were A* to C.

Headteacher Richard Laws said: “We are delighted with the results and what the students have achieved.

“We have improved all our grades again. This is really the result of the hard work of the students, staff and parents.”

Friends Musa Talati, 18, Prem Sonigra, 18, and Shalina Ali, 18, were all delighted to have made it into Warwick University to study Physics and Maths.

Ilford Recorder: Hyesha Patel and Lisa Fosu-Brenyah at Valentines High SchoolHyesha Patel and Lisa Fosu-Brenyah at Valentines High School (Image: Archant)

“Three years of hard work have definitely paid off. We can actually smile now - it’s a proper sigh of relief,” said deputy head girl Shalina, who hopes to continues her studies to a PhD.

“It was a bit nostalgic though to walk into the school and realise that we are not going to go back,” she added.

Their friends Samira Abdalla, 18, and Talvir Singh Athwal have also done extremely well and will stay in London to study respectively Geography and Accountancy and Finance.

There were mixed emotions from Hyesha Patel, 19, and Lisa Fosu-Brenyah, 18, who were disappointed with some of their grades.

“We are still really happy to get the grades that we got because we still have a pathway to achieve our dreams. The school has backed us 100 pc,” said Lisa, who secured a place at the British School of Osteopathy in central London after excelling in Sociology with an A*.

Hyesha was really happy to have made it into City University to study Law after having to resit the year following a rocky first set of exams last year. “I am so glad I did it because my results are so much better. I don’t think I would have made it to uni in the first place,” she said.