Students across Richmond were celebrating today after achieving record A-level results.

And the top results mean many of the borough’s young academics will now be heading to the country’s most prestigious universities come September.

At Richmond College pass rates were high for yet another year with 97 per cent of exam papers scoring an E grade or above.

Bosses at the college, in Egerton Road, Twickenham, were pleased with the results - which included 43 per cent of students gaining As, Bs and the newly introduced A* grades.

There was also a 100 per cent pass rate for 36 subjects across disciplines such as the arts, media, humanities, languages, sciences, maths and social sciences.

Michael Lumley, chairman of governors at the college, said: “The college aims to widen opportunity and at the same time to promote excellence.

“This commendable set of results demonstrates that both the community of Richmond and the wider area are well served by this outstanding tertiary college.”

The college also celebrated International Baccalaureate success with an 88 per cent pass rate for the internationally recognised educational diploma - 10 per cent above the global pass rate.

At the borough’s independent schools grades were also high.

Hampton School, in Hanworth Road, saw 90 per cent of boys receive grades A* to B grades and celebrated students being accepted to the country’s top universities - including Oxford and Cambridge.

The school’s star pupil Richard Lloyd, 18, achieved an impressive six A* grades, closely followed by schoolmates Charles Edwards and Callum Rogers, who both got five A*s.

School captain Zafar Ansari even came in to collect his results early before rushing off to play a cricket match as part of Surrey County’s second XI team and was delighted to find out he had been accepted to Cambridge University.

Headteacher Barry Martin said he remembered many of the boys from when they first started at the school seven years ago and was proud of how much they had achieved.

He said: “I’m delighted for the boys and teachers that put such hard work in. I’m thrilled.”

At neighbouring Lady Eleanor Holles School, 92.9 per cent of results were A* to B, 75.9 per cent of which were As and A*s.

A third of pupils at the girls' school achieved two or more A*s and nearly a fifth achieved the very top grade.

At St James' Independent School for Boys, which is set to complete a move from Twickenham to Ashford in September, more than 33 per cent of papers were marked as A* or A - a 50 per cent improvement on last year.

Headteacher David Boddy said: "The new A* grade has certainly had an impact on the results, and I am delighted that more of our pupils have secured the top grades than ever before."