GETTING nine A*s at GCSE is no mean achievement for any 16-year-old.

But for Magdalen College School pupil Arthur Bickersteth, from Summertown, the results were even more of an accomplishment.

Last October, the teenager was diagnosed with a form of cancer known as osteosarcoma and has been undergoing chemotherapy ever since.

Arthur said: “It’s been difficult but I didn’t really have a choice.”

He said he was “very surprised” to see he had achieved top grades in all his subjects.

The teenager, who will stay at the school to study geography, history, maths and science at A-Level, said: “When I was feeling particularly bad, I sat by myself rather than with everyone else.

“I do feel proud.”

College chaplain Dr Tess Lawton said most children diagnosed with cancer ended up being put down a year because they missed so much school.

She said: “He has had to deal with a lot, and his results are extraordinary.

“There was one particular day when I scooped him up ashen-faced and put him into the isolation room.

“We really didn’t know if he was going to make it through the exam period, but he did and he’s produced these amazing results.”