TEACHERS and students around the borough were celebrating another bumper crop of GCSE results last week with outstanding grades being achieved in all schools.

Overall in the borough 51 per cent of pupils attained five or more GCSEs with A* to C grades and many schools saw improvements on previous year's results.

Richmond upon Thames LEA said that all school staff and pupils worked hard to raise standards with varying success. They also stated that they are working with schools to ensure that all young people leave school with a GCSE grade or equivalent qualification, which some schools already achieve.

Anji Phillips, director of Education and Leisure Services, commented: "These results show very good improvements across a number of schools with some sustained high standards. However, we will now focus with schools and governors to raise standards in some schools. The test results for 14-year-olds provide a much improved baseline for raising standards for all pupils in Richmond upon Thames."

Orleans Park School in Richmond Road, Twickenham, is celebrating the best set of GCSE results ever achieved by the school, as in total, 67 per cent of those entered for exams this summer achieved at least five A star-C grades. Outstanding students who gained all A star or A grades were Richard Dawson, Melanie Hall, Charlotte Drummond, Alex Gillespie, Sarah Cook, Fiona Brooker and Lewis Fox.

Headteacher, Dave Talbot, said: "I am absolutely delighted with the results. The pupils and staff worked very hard to achieve them and their efforts have been justly rewarded. Our pupils are now well placed to progress to the next stage of their education and we wish them continued success."

This year's GCSE results at Shene School were as the school expected, according to headteacher Judith Gavars, who said as a result of hard work by pupils and staff the year group achieved 31 per cent A star to C in five or more subjects. She said: "In contrast to the national trend, four out of the top five achievers were boys with the top pupil Edward Boaden achieving nine A stars and one A grade. Reflecting the school's new Language College status, results in Italian were significantly above the national average. The school was pleased to see that 90 per cent of those pupils who took the intermediate vocational GCSE achieved the equivalent of an A-C grade."

The new principal, Ian Flintoff, of Hampton Community College said he was delighted with the achievements of the class of 2002. He said: "The average A star to C percentage has risen. It is a tribute to the hard work of both staff and students that results continue to improve despite two years of considerable changes in staffing.

"A number of subject areas achieved outstanding results including performing arts which are the focus of our forthcoming bid for specialist status.

"Our top achievers included eight students who gained 12 A star to C grades, two of these students each amassed five A star and five A grades. We entered a number of Year 10 students a year early for GCSE statistics; 41 gained A star to C, a notable success."

Grey Court School in Ham reported even greater improvements in their GCSE results this year and 63 per cent of all students achieved top grades in five or more examinations. Timothy Moss attained eleven A star grades closely followed by Aimee Woods with seven A star and four A grades and all students left with at least one GCSE and 96 per cent achieved five or more passes.

Staff and students were overjoyed at their success, Tina Haveland-Smith said: "The students have worked very hard for these results, they deserve their success."

At Richmond Adult Community College students excelled again in their GCSE results, with an average of 89 per cent gaining A star to G grades. GCSEs in Languages also had a 100 per cent pass rate A star to C in French, Italian and Turkish, as did GCSEs in Drama and Music. For subjects right across the board, from Humanities to the Arts there were also excellent pass rates, including 100 pass rates in Art and Spanish.

Waldegrave School appeared in the top 20 in a table of GCSE results from Comprehensive Schools across the country published by the Times newspaper last Friday. The table, based on the per centage of students who achieved top A* and A grades, placed Waldegrave at number 19 with an impressive 33 per cent of results at the top grades.

Stephen Baldock, High Master of St Paul's School in Barnes expressed his delight at this year's results.

He said: "I am very pleased with the results for GCSE, our best outcome ever this year. The proportion of A and A star results was 92 per cent. We are very satisfied with the hard work the boys have undertaken. Most of our boys do 10 to 11 subjects at this level and we had over 160 candidates this year. They achieve this as well as being involved in sport, music and drama."

Harrodian School, Barnes, were celebrating a double delight this year with successful GCSE results and the opening of a new 6th form building. Thomas Sturridge achieved nine A star grades and along with him were other high achievers Freddie St Clair Gainer, Camila Carlow, Jenny Yen, Marcus Foster, Kit Cunningham and Sam Lindsey.

St James Independent School for Boys in Twickenham defied the national concern for boys' GCSE results by recording another outstanding set of results, with an overall Pass Rate of 99.3 per cent. There were 32 candidates and their were: A star Pass Rate 17.2 per cent; A star/A Pass Rate 40.5 per cent; the percentage of boys getting 5+ A star ABC was 91 per cent and A star ABC Pass Rate: 82 per cent. Jigar Patel is specially congratulated by the school for achieving a total of 12 A* plus an A in Additional Maths.

St Catherine's School in Twickenham achieved a 90.5 per cent rate of children achieving A to Cs.

Miriam Fisher, acting headteacher said: "We are delighted with the success of this group in general and especially that individual girls have far out-performed expectations."

A spokesman for Richmond upon Thames LEA said: "Fifty one per cent of pupils in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames attained 5 or more GCSEs with A* to C grades this year.

"The success of a number of pupils has been outstanding; some students attained A* or A grade in all subjects.

"All school staff and pupils have worked hard to raise standards with varying success. Individual school results range widely across the borough. Similarly, results across different subjects in some schools show a wide range of attainment.

"In addition, the LEA is working with schools to ensure that all young people leave school with a GCSE grade or equivalent qualification. Some schools already achieve this successfully.

"The drive by the LEA in partnership with schools to improve school attendance has a direct impact on standards. It is an essential measure to ensure all young people are in school working towards examination success.

"The tests for 14- year-olds have produced improved results in all the three

core subjects of English, Maths and Science with around 72 per cent achieving the national standard and 40 per cent of pupils achieving well above average.

"This is a good indication for improvements in future GCSE results."