STUDENTS across the county received their long-awaited GCSE results today, with the overall pass rate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland going up to 98.1 per cent. Nationally, students awarded grades A* to C, rose by 1.2 per cent from last year to 62.4 per cent.

Teenagers at Loreto College, in Hatfield Road, St Albans shared their experience with Review & Observer reporters this morning. Girls at the single-sex college eagerly ripped open their brown envelopes to reveal their grades.

Beverly Cottrell, from Borehamwood, achieved three A*s, three As and three Bs. She said: "I'm really pleased and surprised. I got better marks than my sister so I'm really happy.

Fellow student Jacqueline Tan, from Gorham Drive, St Albans, got two A*s, seven As and one B. She said: "I'm thinking about being an engineer. There aren't many women engineers and I like being different."

Loreto College Headteacher Moira Lynch said: "We are absolutely thrilled with the results - 94 per cent of the grades were A to C."

On the other side of the district, students at Onslow St Audrey's School, in Old Rectory Drive, Hatfield were shrieking with relief and frantically calling their parents to let them know how they had got on in their GSCEs.

Joff Willis, from Hatfield got three A*s, six As and one B. He said: "I really wanted to know my results, but I knew I couldn't change my marks so I wasn't nervous. The waiting was the worst part. I'm going back to sixth- form to study Maths, Physics, History and Graphics."

Bishops Hatfield Girls School pupil Lilly Dixon managed to pick up three As, six Bs and two Cs. The Hatfield resident said: "I was really nervous, I've been thinking about it all summer. I hoped to do better but I'm not too disappointed. I'm going to stay on in the sixth-form to study English Literature, French, Physics and Law."

At Sir Frederic Osborn School in Welwyn Garden City, headteacher Sue Lewis said she was "very, very proud" of all the students' hard work, and that their "brilliant" results meant the school could bid for specialist sports college status.

Mrs Lewis said: "We're very pleased, there was a significant improvement in our results this year. We had 46 per cent of students getting A* to C grades, and our five A* to G grades went up by 11 per cent to 90 per cents. As an inclusive comprehensive school that's really important to us."

Sir Fred's pupil Laurence Whitaker was one of the school's highest achievers, getting three A*s, four As and three Bs. He said: "I'm really pleased, I had expected to do well but not this well. I'm going to stay on for sixth form and do economics, law, maths and English."

For the full round-up of GCSE results from selected schools across St Albans and Welwyn Hatfield see next week's Review & Observer