WHOOPS of joy filled the courtyards and corridors of Taunton’s College as students discovered their grades, writes Jon Reeve.

With impressive pass rates in A and AS levels and the International Baccalaureate courses, there was much to celebrate once the results were out.

There was a steady stream of nervous and excited students arriving at the college throughout the morning, from the moment the doors were opened at the Hill Lane site.

Among those delighted with their results were talented twins Fiona and Alison Thompson, from Rownhams.

The 18-year-olds racked up an impressive nine A grades between them.

Fiona is now off to Bristol University to study music after scoring top marks in maths, further maths, music and German, while sister Alison is going to Cambridge for a degree in engineering.

She achieved As in maths, physics, chemistry and music A-levels, as well as further maths at AS level.

The college’s overall A-level pass rate was 97 per cent, with 64 per cent of passes at high A to C grades.

More than two-thirds of courses at Taunton’s saw all students achieve A to E grades, and principal Alice Wrighton said she was delighted with the results.

“I’m thrilled to bits – it’s my first year as principal so this is my first set of results really and we’ve done really, really well,” she said.

“We’ve got some students who got fantastic high-level achievement with three or four A grades at A level.”