'We worked hard and no one can take that away'

JOJO MOYES

Pupils across Britain will be celebrating their exam results this morning. But some may have a little more justification than others.

Eleanor Mayne from Sandy in Bedfordshire and Corinne Stannard from Colchester in Essex, both achieved a staggering six grade As at A-level.

Eleanor, who at 17 took her exams a year early, obtained her six top grades in biology, chemistry, general studies, maths, further maths and physics.

Her head teacher, Max Hill, yesterday described her as "multi-talented" but "a down to earth girl".

Corinne, 18, will go on to study medicine at University College, London. She said yesterday: "The exams were an awful lot of hard work for everybody. It is a shame that people are raising questions yet again about whether they are as difficult as they used to be."

Three girls at Manchester High School For Girls were each awarded five grade As, with another 12 getting four straight As.

Rosemary Slater, 18, from Stockport got five As in English literature, history, general studies, maths and physics.

"It is an amazing feeling - you always hope you have done well but there's always a nagging doubt," she said yesterday.

Her school mate, Aalia Quraishy, matched Rosemary's achievement with As in maths, further maths, chemistry, biology and general studies.

Aalia, 17, from Bramhall said: "I'm very very happy. I had a dream last night that I got X, Y and Z grades - it was terrible."

Twin sisters Yas and Nas Haque of Cardiff High School both notched up three straight As. Yas, 18, strongly denied the exams were getting easier.

"We worked damn hard to get these results and nobody can take that away from us," she said.