Students made sure that Oxford's Peers School went out with a bang today.

The school, in Sandy Lane West, Littlemore, recorded its best set of GCSE results, with nearly double the number of pupils achieving A* to C grades compared to last year.

It was the last set of examinations sat by Peers students, as the school will reopen next month as Oxford's first city academy.

Deputy headteacher Alison Robb-Webb said: "We are pleased and proud of the students.

"There is a risk when you are moving from a school to an academy that you might dip but we have actually kept on rising."

A total of 48 per cent of all grades were A* to C - up from just 27 per cent last year.

And 38 per cent of pupils scored five A* to C - 13 per cent more than 2007.

Ms Robb-Webb said: "We were seeing lots of students with big smiles on their faces - then obviously we were hit by the fact these were the last set of results, which is why I am so pleased they have con- tinued to improve. We are going out on a high and we feel really proud."

The results also mean the school is no longer at the bottom of the county's league table.

Attendance officer Sue Edmunds, 50, from Littlemore, was one of the school's first pupils.

As she handed out students' GCSE results, she said: "I came to Peers as a student in 1969 and have worked here for 14 years.

"It's so sad to see the school close - I've already shed a few tears.

"It's devastating really."

But Mrs Edmunds, whose three children also attended Peers, has high hopes for the future.

She said: "The results were great - pupils are finishing on a high and I'm optimistic the academy will be a success."

Volunteer youth worker Dylan McGuire, 16, from Blackbird Leys, picked up three Bs and five Cs.

He said: "It's sad Peers is closing - I wanted my little brother to come here.

"It will be very different when the kids come back in September, but I think change is good."

Meanwhile, at Wheatley Park School, you could be forgiven for seeing double - as the school had 10 sets of twins sitting their GCSEs.

Between them, the 20 teenagers chalked up a staggering 195 GCSEs - with one pair, Martha and Ella Baskerville, achieving 15 A*s, four As and a B between them.

Martha, 16, from Wheatley, said: "We are really pleased with our results - I was shaking when I opened the envelope, but they were better than expected.

Her sister added: "Having a twin helped with revision.

"We made our revision cards together."

Headteacher Kate Curtis said: "It is very unusual.

"I have never heard of it happening before in all my years of education."

She added: "What is nice is the twins are all very supportive of each other, which creates a nice atmosphere."