HEAD teachers in Eden praised students for their hard work after they maintained their high standards in A level results.

Kirkby Stephen Grammar School achieved a pass rate of 98.7 per cent for students achieving grades A to E and head teacher David Keetley said he was very pleased.

"Most of the students were very pleased and calm when they got in this morning," he said.

"The most important thing from our point of view is that students have achieved grades they needed to go where they wanted to go.

"We are very pleased and the results are up there with recent years' standards."

A number of students also achieved success in vocational courses run in partnership with Appleby Heritage Centre.

"I pay tribute to all the students for their commitment, especially those who may have gained lower grades. For some of them, this is a real achievement."

In Appleby, pupils were equally happy. Head teacher of Appleby Grammar School Terry Hobson said: "The results are on a par with previous years with a 96 per cent pass rate A to E and 67 per cent above a grade C.

"The pupils have done very well and the atmosphere has been very matter of fact."

Following last week's GCSE results, Kirkby Stephen Grammar School head teacher David Keetley said he was very pleased that pupils had exceeded their targets.

"We set targets for this year group and they exceeded them by five per cent - this is excellent news," he said.

"I am really proud of the students and their teachers for achieving such good results."

Sixty three per cent of pupils at the school received five A* to C grades and 97 per cent achieved grades A* to G.

However, the figures did not match last year's results which Mr Keetley said had been "outstanding".

He anticipated that many students would stay on in the sixth form for AS courses, making it the school's largest sixth form yet.

Two pupils who did extremely well, Stephen Paul and Laura Pepper, each achieved five A*s, four As and a B.

At Appleby Grammar School, head teacher Terry Hobson was very pleased that pupils had exceeded last year's results.

He said: "I am really happy. It shows that as a school we have improved compared to last year. The results reflect the youngsters' ability and they have done brilliantly."

Sixty two and a half per cent of pupils received five A* to C grades, and 99 per cent achieved grades A* to G.