ITS been a year of ups and down, but for teenagers at Basingstoke's secondary schools, it was mostly big smiles this morning on GCSE results day.

Squeals of joy could be heard from outside many of the town's schools as the Gazette made its way round, speaking with staff and students.

At Brighton Hill Community School, headteacher Chris Edwards said: “The ones who have opened them here have been euphoric! It’s been a difficult two years for them but we got there.”

Randall Jull, headteacher at the Costello School, added: “They have done brilliantly. They have had disruption but have shown such resilience.”

Across the country, GCSE students have received another record set of grades.

Top grades (7/As and above) rose by 2.7 percentage points to 28.9 per cent, while grades 4/Cs and above (seen as passes) rose 0.8 percentage points to 76.3 per cent.

This is a smaller rise compared to last year and exam regulators have said the process has been fair and thorough.