Teenagers across the county have been celebrating record grades as they tore open their A Level results this morning.

At Bartholomew School in Eynsham, headteacher Andrew Hamilton said he was "delighted" with the school's results. Of the 64 pupils who took exams, 82 per cent achieved A to C grades. The overall pass rate was 97 per cent.

Mr Hamilton said: "It's a superb set of results, the fifth consecutive year of breaking records in the top grades.

"This has been a talented and hardworking year group and we expected them to do very well."

Four students - Katie Duffell, Hannah Chippendale, Hannah Standling and Megan Shirley - all achieved four or more grade As.

At Burford School and Community College, the highest fliers were Caroline Griffin and Jenny O'Hara, both of whom gained four A grades.

Caroline's marks have earned her a place at Southampton University to read engineering while Jenny is due to study maths at St Andrew's.

Headteacher Kathy Haig said: "We are very pleased with all of our students. We have done well and many of the students have hit their targets."

The overall pass rate was 98 per cent while 70 per cent of students achieved grades A to C.

There were celebrations at Bicester Community College too, where the overall pass rate was also 98 per cent and 47 per cent of students achieved grades A to C.

Two students with outstanding results were Helena Mills and Laura Wilson.

Helena, of Bucknell Road, Bicester, gained A grades in English, history and maths and an AS result in geography. The 18-year-old is looking forward to reading history at University College, Oxford.

She said: "I was completely scared and did not know what to expect. I was predicted the grades I achieved and I feel relieved that all my hard work has paid off."

Laura, of King's Meadow, Bicester, gained As in English, media studies, religious studies and a B in design and technology and said she "can't wait" to go to Oxford's Keble College to study English literature.

She said: "I was shaking before I even opened the envelope."

At King Alfred's in Wantage, assistant principal John Gale was proud of his students.

He said: " These results are the icing on the cake. We were delighted with our Ofsted report and now more than half our students have gained grades A or B, indeed nearly 80 per cent received the top three grades."

He added: "We now have to wait for the final confirmation but we are expecting a number of students to gain places at Oxbridge."