At North Walsham High School students were looking to what the future may now hold for them as they picked up their GCSE results.

Overall there was a slight dip in the results this year at the school. The number of students with five or more A*-C grades including English and maths was 46pc compared to 48pc last year.

The number of students with five or more A*-C grades in all subjects was 55pc compared to 60pc last year.

Caroline Brooker, head teacher at North Walsham High School said although they were disappointed to see a slight dip, the figures should be treated with caution at this stage.

She said: 'We have a number of students where we believe we have a good case for appeal, and should even some of these appeals be successful, our five A*-C including English and Maths figure would be around the same as last year, and we are confident that this will be where we will finally end up. So it is too early to make a judgement yet.

'Of course, each year's group of students is different, and this can have a marked effect on the figures year-to-year. 'We are pleased with the progress that this year's GCSE students have made since they joined the school five years ago.'

Case Studies:

George Fleming, 16, from Bradfield near North Walsham, Isobel Shuttleworth-Hobbs, 16, from North Walsham, Maisie Barber, 16, from North Walsham, and Lucy Curtis-Warminger, 16, from Thorpe, near Norwich, were the top four performers at the school.

Isobel gained three As, two Bs and one A* and will now take up a place at Access to Music College in Norwich studying music performance.

She said: 'I am ecstatic, I especially did not think I would pass science as I struggled with it.'

George achieved five Bs, three As and one A* and an E in additional maths at AS Level. He is going on to Paston College to study A-levels and hopes to become a dentist. He said: 'I cannot put into words how I feel. I am so excited.'

Maisie who gained two A*s five As and two Bs is also going on to Paston College to study A-levels and hopes to enter into medicine.

She said: 'I cannot believe I got an A in maths, I am speechless at that.'

Lucy achieved one A*, six As and three Bs and is going on to study A-levels at Sir Isaac Newton College in Norwich and is looking to also get into medicine.