Coloured umbrellas and double-decker buses were called into action as hundreds of City College Norwich students took part in what might be one of the biggest single GCSE exam sittings in Norfolk history.

Government changes mean that 16- to 19-year-old students have to keep studying English and maths as part of their college education if they do not yet have grade Cs.

The new system has meant the college has record numbers taking the two subjects this year, and it had to hire the arena at Norfolk Showground to cope with the numbers.

A total of 900 people took their mock English GCSE exams at the showground this morning.

The college will use the same venue for the real GCSE exams this summer, when 1,146 students are due to take English, and 906 are expected to sit their maths GCSEs.

The students were ferried between the college and the showground in a fleet of 10 double-decker buses, and exam staff used coloured umbrellas to help students find their place in the hall, and a bar code system to count them in and then back out again.