Students at a Harrow school were celebrating this morning after achieving “record” GCSE results.

Pupils at Whitmore High School in Porlock Avenue ended their nervous summer wait to receive their brown envelopes and the Harrow Times spoke to some of the grinning teenagers.

Oliver Hurcum, 16, said after over-achieving in his exams his ultimate goal was to study philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford after completing his A-levels at Whitmore.

He was one of the star performers at the school, receiving eight A*s and three As.

He said: “My results are exactly what I was hoping for, and a little bit better than I expected to be honest – so that’s a bit of a relief.

“I was expecting a spread A*s to Bs so I’m really happy to do better than that.”

Students and their parents were gathered in huddles assessing results around the modern building, which more than 1,000 pupils moved into in 2010 when the school became a specialist science college.

Kajol Gill, 16, said after getting 3 A*s, 8 As and a B she wanted to do A-levels but was considering her options about where to complete them.

She added: “I’m really happy – I was expecting a little bit less. I’m not sure what I want to do in the future, probably something along the lines of finance.”

And Sophie Gayle, 16, said she would go on to do her A-levels at St Dominic’s Sixth Form College in Mount Park Avenue after enjoying some time off to celebrate.

She added: “I was really pleased with my results and I did a lot better than I expected – I’m just thankful that all that hard work I put in paid off in the end because you’re never sure if it will.

“I’m just going to focus on celebrating now and think about what to do in the future later.”

Headteacher Susan Hammond said she was “extremely proud” of the pupils and that they had achieved a record year of results for the school.

She added that there was no evidence of the marking down of GCSE English papers that has been reported nationally, with 77 per cent of pupils achieving A*-C in the subject.

71 per cent of pupils at the school achieved five A*-C grades including maths and English - a record - with 26 per cent of exams coming back with an A* or A.

Ms Hammond said: “I'm very pleased for our students, staff and parents. We had record results at A-level this year so to get record GCSE results as well is fantastic news.”