THE wide grins on the faces of Year 11 pupils at Abbey School, Faversham, were a telling sign of their success, as they opened their GCSE exam results on Tuesday.

The youngsters had every reason to be cheerful, after achieving some of the best results in the school's history, which were also significantly above the national average.

Deputy head teacher Francis Hatt said: "These results really underline an excellent year for the Abbey.

"We were particularly confident that the results would be good this year, and are pleased that the ambition and hard work of the staff and students has paid off."

Across town, Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School also reported its best GCSE results, with one student, Megan Collins, accomplishing ten A* grades and one A.

More than 97 per cent of the year group achieved 5 GCSE passes at grades A* to C, including English and maths, with more than half of them achieving at least five A* to A grades.

Proud head teacher David Anderson said: "Congratulations to these outstanding students who have worked extremely hard over the past two years to achieve these excellent results.

"These are the best GCSE results at Queen Elizabeth's and I wish to extend my congratulations to all of the staff and students who have worked so hard."