STUDENTS from Malvern have performed impressively in this year’s ALevel examinations, returning some of the town’s best ever results.

At The Chase School the overall pass rate was 99.5 per cent, with more than half of all grades between A*-B.

Top performers included Emma Davies, with five A*s and an A, and Matthew Anthony and Sam March, who both scored three A*s and an A.

Headgirl Mary Fleming, 18, had a morning to remember as her results of one A*, two As and a C were promptly followed by an unexpected offer to study medicine at Bristol University.

“I had been rejected earlier in the year and put on the waiting lists,” she said.

“I thought my results meant I’d be able to reapply next year, but then I got a call from an unknown number and it was the university offering me a place. I was so excited I could barely speak.”

Headteacher Kevin Peck said: “The results demonstrated our students and staff are working harder than ever together to prepare effectively for the exams and this is an unquestioned cause for congratulations.”

At Dyson Perrins CE Academy the pass rate was 97 per cent, up three per cent on last year, with 62 per cent A*-C.

Deputy headteacher Stuart Wetson said: “We are delighted with the grades.

“They are the reward for all of the effort and hard work that students and teachers have put in.”

At Hanley Castle High School the pass rate was 98 per cent, with 10 per cent at A* and 67 per cent at A*-C.

Top performers included headboy Mark Gwilt, who achieved four A*s and will study History at UCL, Claudia Freemantle, who has won a place studying History at Oxford with an A* and two As and Harry Evans, who achieved four As and will study English, also at Oxford.

Headteacher Lindsey Cooke: “The vast majority of students have won places at their first choice universities.”

Malvern’s private schools excelled, with the pass rate at Malvern St James 99.6 per cent, with 61 per cent A*-B.

At Malvern College the pass rate was 99 per cent, with 75 per cent A*-B.

Top performers included Nathan King who gained four A*s and has won a choral scholarship to Queen’s College, Oxford, and Charlie Lacey who scored three A*s and one A.