A Southall student who cared for her disabled father while studying has celebrated achieving strong A-level results and securing a place at her first-choice university.

Sagarika Benoit, 18, a student at Villiers High School, achieved an A* in Maths and two Bs in Economics and Business.

She will now attend King's College London to study Economics and Management, a place she says she was able to achieve with the support of her school.

“I had a tough time at home because my dad is disabled and I was his carer. I couldn’t always study at home.”

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Sagarika said she made use of the school as a place where she could study before and after lessons.

“I would come into school really early every day and stay back late as much as I could. I am glad that the school provided that safe space. That was the best part.”

She also spoke about her time at Villiers High School and her excitement about moving on to university.

“I loved the environment here. I know I am going to miss it here. But I am excited for the next stage and for the student life.”

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Villiers High School celebrates strong A-level results

Staff at Villiers High School are also celebrating what headteacher Christopher Richards described as the school's best A-level results in years, and possibly its best results ever.

Mr Richards said there had been a 10% increase in the proportion of students achieving A* to C grades, with the figure now standing at 83%.

“We are really happy. These are the best set of A-level results we have had in years. We expected it to be positive, but maybe not this positive.”

He said the school's results had been on an upward trajectory, with the vast majority of students securing places at their first-choice universities.

“We are delighted. We have had a trajectory of upwards results.”

Mr Richards added that some students had performed better than expected and were already contacting universities to explore upgrading their choices.

“The vast majority of students got into their first-choice universities. Some students are even now calling to upgrade universities because they did better than they thought.”