SCHOOLS are celebrating record A-level scores - with some producing their best-ever results.

Official results tables will not be available until September but many schools have reported rises and record pass rates.

Pupils from Darrick Wood School, Lovibonds Avenue, Orpington, are all expected to go to their first-choice universities after they averaged a point score of 320, with 120 points being an A grade.

Assistant headteacher Fiona McSorley said: "We are extremely pleased because they are the best results ever.

"Students and staff have worked extremely hard and we wish the pupils every success in the future."

Alexander Donoghue topped the table at the school by getting four As at A-level, and an A and a B at AS level.

He will now go to University College, Oxford, to read chemistry.

The 18-year-old said: "It feels a bit intimidating really and I feel nervous excitement.

"I am really looking forward to it."

Bromley High School achieved a 100 per cent pass rate and 53.8 per cent of those were at grade A.

Top students at the school, in Blackbrook Lane, Bickley, were Nathalie Hakim and Georgina Howe who both got five As.

They are both going to Lincoln College, Oxford, where Nathalie will read engineering and Georgina will read maths.

Emma Baksh, Helen Cable, Su Fu and Kim Hewitt all gained four As.

Headteacher Lorna Duggleby said: "We are delighted with our best results ever.

"The students have worked consistently hard to gain these excellent grades.

"The pressure is getting greater each year and this cohort of students have risen marvellously to the challenge.

"The results are also a credit to the outstanding teaching and learning and to our teachers who give up enormous amounts of extra time to help our students."

In High Wycombe, many schools again enjoyed outstanding success with the vast majority of pupils getting the grades they needed to go to university.

At Wycombe High School, Marlow Hill, 12 girls have been offered places at Oxford or Cambridge University and 67 of the 193 students in the sixth form got straight As.

At John Hampden Grammar School, also in Marlow Hill, staff were congratulating their boys after record results, with 71 per cent managing all A or B grades.

Sam Oetiker had special reason to be happy after hearing he achieved the highest marks for Art and Design in the country by his exam board.

The Royal Grammar School in Amersham Road, had its best-ever A level results after students averaged over three grades A each.

Students across Watford also breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday morning.

The figures for many schools have topped last year's achievements, with many recording pass rates matching or topping the national average of 99.6 per cent.

Some even recorded 100 per cent pass rates, and reported that the number of A grades had also risen.

At Merchant Taylors' School, in Moor Park, staff were delighted to find that pupils had achieved a 100 per cent pass rate for the fifth consecutive year and seven students notched up five A grades.

The exam results produced some of the "best ever" results for schools Ealing.

Greenford High School in Ruislip Road were celebrating as pupils achieved a 98 per cent pass rate, with 68 per cent of the 200 pupils taking the exams getting A to C grades.

Deputy headteacher Alex Reed praised the hard work in producing the school's best results to date. He said: "I am very happy. This is a testament to the hard work of the pupils and consistently good teaching.

"The results are significantly better than last year. We pride ourselves on being a comprehensive school and the most important thing is to make sure all our students get good qualifications."