PUPILS in the Ledbury, Newent and Bromyard area celebrated the arrival of their GCSE results yesterday (Thursday).

At Ledbury's John Masefield High School, 57 per cent of candidates achieved five or more A* to C grades. The school's top performer was Adam Willis, who picked up 10A*s and an A.

Deputy head Andy Evans said: "I'm delighted so many boys and girls have achieved so well and have been rewarded for all their hard work. We're also very much looking forward to many of these high achieving students joining the sixth form in September."

At Bromyard's Queen Elizabeth High School, 43 per cent of pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades, a big improvement on last year's figure of 38 per cent.

Sarah Greenhall, Aisling Hurney, Theo Gibara and Darren Mullin all gained six or more A* or A grades.

Head Pat Jewkes said: "It's pleasing to see the core subjects providing a solid base for our pupils and these were ably backed up by history, geography, music, IT, technology and RE."

At Newent Community School, 66 per cent of students gained five or more A* to C grades.

Assistant head Ann Birch said about half a dozen students had picked up a raft of A*s and As.

"I think the pupils and the teachers have worked extremely hard this year," she said. "An awful lot of the GCSE syllabuses have changed this year with different requirements. Considering that, they were all pleased."