GRANGE students have been praised for their work-home balance after delivering an excellent set of A Level results.

More than half of all grades were at A* or A, with chemistry students leading the way with 90 per cent of students achieving one of the top two results.

Headteacher Debbie Leonard said this year’s students saw off concerns over revised grade boundaries to overachieve.

She said: “I was relieved. Normally you are ecstatic or disappointed but yesterday it was relief first and then we thought actually they have done really well given their baseline.

“Each year each group is of a different ability so you can’t assume you will reflect the same grades. They have done really well and balanced it so well.

“This year it’s not just been about exams – they have maintained their extracurricular and other things they have been doing. Some people felt they were taking too much on, but they have delivered.

“I don’t want an exam hothouse, I want kids who know how to balance their life and this group has epitomised that.

“They are a bit of a mixed ability group but the results are good. We are happy.”

Head boy Sahil Seth was one of those to record excellent results, with his A*A*A in chemistry, biology maths landing him a place to study medicine at Birmingham University.

He said: “It’s been quite a good balance. We have met with the head on a weekly basis had loads of support. It’s definitely been challenging but I’ve enjoyed it and it’s been worthwhile.

I have enjoyed my leadership role, and I want to be a medic and the fact that I have got that going into it will set me up for the rest of my career, hopefully in surgery.

I did my exams and after that there is nothing you can do to change it. So I just tried to relax and enjoy the summer.”

Fellow medic Alice Gerrard got three in the same subjects.

She said: “It’s been a hard couple of years but the school give us a lot of support and I have pushed through it.

It’s a lot of juggling with all the things you have to do for medicine, with volunteering and work experience and so on.

I’m just really excited – it’s weird to think I’ll be starting in a few weeks’ time.”

Meanwhile, one student has secured a place at Oxford despite changing his career ambition midway through his studies.

Will Prior, who will study music with A Levels in music, chemistry and biology, said: “I initially wanted to do medicine but had a change of heart in lower sixth.

“I went on a choir course with the national youth choir and it just made me realise that the thing that really made me happy was music.

“I had an interview in December and a choral scholarship application preliminary to that. My December one was four days in Oxford, with three academic interviews, a practical test and an oral test.

“I have actively tried not to think about the results. There is nothing I could really do but I’m so pleased.”