KNUTSFORD academics Samantha Rae and Polly Cartwright were all smiles after receiving their A Level results at the King's School.

The King's School students will be heading for top universities with Samantha, 18, from Snelson, getting an A and two B grades to study Economics and International Relations at Birmingham and Polly Cartwright, 18, from Knutsford, getting an A*, an A and a B to study adult Nursing at Liverpool.

Samantha wants to join the United Nations and work in the developing world, while Polly is aiming to become a top nurse.

Overall King's School A Level students were jumping for joy as the top Macclesfield school recorded another bumper set of results.

Around 80 per cent of all grades were A* to B, the same as last year, but this year more than 50 per cent of all grades are at A*/ A, up from 44 per cent last year, while 22 per cent achieved the ultimate A* grade, up from 19 per cent last year.

10 students achieved three A*s or better; three students achieved an amazing four A*s, while 50 students achieved three As or better.

The bumper set of results saw the vast majority of students progressing to the universities of their choice to study their preferred subject, while all six young men and women with offers from Oxford or Cambridge met the stiff grade requirements.

Dr Simon Hyde, headmaster at King's School, said: “These are among the best results in the school's history, confirming the strong improvements in teaching and learning at King's over the last five years.

"This exceptional level of success is not achieved overnight or through last minute revision but through hard work from the early years up to the Sixth Form and the teachers’ insistence on a rigorous attention to detail and disciplined working routines.”