SUCCESS is once again the word of the day around Marlow after a stellar set of GCSE results followed record A Level marks to round off a positive summer for the town’s schools.

Great Marlow School equalled its best-ever scores, matching last year’s record breaking year group which went on to post the Bobmore Lane school’s most successful AS grades last week.

And the evergreen Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School continued its excellent academic tradition, with 71 per cent of exams taken graded A or A* and 35 pupils getting straight A marks or better.

Linton Nash, presiding over the results for the first time as acting headteacher at Great Marlow, said he was delighted his pupils had bucked a national trend for lower English marks to post ‘astounding’ scores.

He said: “It’s groundhog day for us, but in a really good way as our as grades are identical to last year.

“You now get pupils now saying they’re disappointed with a B, when a few years ago a C would have been seen as ok - that’s how different things are now.

“These results, against a national picture of grade turbulence, reflect very positively the efforts of pupils, teachers and parents.

“Sixth form applications are at a record high so it should be fantastic next year, especially with the new sixth form block with dedicated study space for them.”

Great Marlow saw 69 per cent of year 11s achieving five or more A* to C grades, including both English and maths.

Happy faces in the hall at Great Marlow included Jenna Elliott, who opened her envelope to find 7 A* grades, 5 A and an A* for an AS Level taken a year early.

And Jacob Weiss was close on her heels, with 6 A* and 5 A grades, also registering an early A mark at AS Level.

He said: “I’m pretty happy, especially with an A* in English, as it’s really not my forte. But, I put the work in and it paid off.

“I did some a year early and that’s put me a little ahead I suppose. I’m looking more at the sciences now, and possibly medicine, but we’ll wait and see.”

Meanwhile, squeals of delight could be hear around the corridors at Borlase, where among the 35 pupils to get straight A marks, three star academics picked up A* grades across the board.

Festival-bound pupils could be seen sporting wellies, as the excited youngsters stopped off to pick up their grades before heading to Reading for this weekend’s music festival.

The trio of Sakshi Soni, Tom Brockwell and Olivia Seifert in particular can all celebrate knowing their scores could not be better.

Tom said: “I did better than I expected, when I came out of the exams I thought I’d done well but afterwards the longer it goes on the more doubts start to creep in.

“I’ve really liked my time at the school up until now so hopefully the sixth form will be just as good.”

Headmaster Dr Peter Holding, who has led the school to consistent success after taking over the top job in 1998 and oversaw its switch to academy status, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the outstanding results.

“Despite all the national headlines warning of huge fluctuations at school level this year, we have seen a consistent pattern of success. This is a great testament to the immense hard work and dedication of our staff, and the efforts and hard study of our students.

“They all deserve praise and we are really proud of all of them.”