STUDENTS in Waltham Forest have achieved the borough’s best ever results at A and AS level.

The average pass rate of 97 per cent fell just shy of the national average and shows further improvement on last year, with no colleges or sixth forms recording a dip in performance.

Thirteen students at Walthamstow Academy, in Billet Road, were the first to sit A-Levels since the former McEntee School became an academy.

A total of 97.4 per cent passed their exams, with almost half achieving A or B grades, and eleven students will continue into higher education.

Pupils performed well in mathematics, with 90 per cent of students at Chingford Foundation School sixth form achieving grades A or B.

There was a 97.4 pass rate overall at the Nevin Drive school, with the school’s head boy, Bradley Wood, picking up five A grades at A-Level.

Sixth formers at Highams Park School, in Handsworth Avenue, Highams Park, gained a 97 per cent overall pass rate and 29 per cent achieved grades A and B.

The top performing student was 18-year-old Jennifer Bruce, who will read Physics at Cambridge University after gaining four As.

Holy Family Technology College students achieved an 86 per cent pass rate - a slight improvement on last year for the college in Shernhall Street, Walthamstow.

Leyton Sixth Form College's overall pass rate topped 97 per cent and almost four in ten grades were A or B.

Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College in Chingford Road, Walthamstow, saw 97 per cent of students pass, with one in three students achieving A or B grades.

Walthamstow Academy principal Emma Skae said: “We are delighted at our first set of results, which exceeded our targets.

The students and staff have worked exceptionally hard over the last two years and it has paid off.”

Chingford Foundation School director of sixth form, Neil Taylor, said: “A-Levels are not easy. A combination of exam papers scheduled throughout the two years of study and demanding coursework make A-Levels a rigorous qualification."

Leyton Sixth Form College principal, Kevin Watson, said he was delighted.

He said: "Some 1900 students studied at Leyton Sixth Form College in 2008-09 across a range of disciplines so the results represent success on a grand scale."