A SOUTHALL school is celebrating its best ever GCSE results with pupils scoring among the best results in the country.

Villiers High School scored high on the Progress 8 measures, introduced last year, which tracks how much progress pupils make between starting school and finishing their GCSE.

Based on this year’s results, the school would be ranked in the top 200 nationally for GCSE results and be among the best performing in Ealing.

They also scored the best ever results in English and Maths with a combined pass rate of 65 per cent.

The Southall pupils achieved the excellent results against a backdrop of the biggest shake-up to GCSE exams in a generation.

New exams in English language, English literature and maths were taken by the Year 11 students - Which were graded in numbers, with nine as the highest mark and one the lowest.

Budding journalist Aisha Warsame, 16, from Southall, scored six A *and four As and will study Politics, History, English Literature and Philosophy at Villiers sixth from.

She has set her sights on studying to Oxbridge to study Law after completing her A Levels at Villiers sixth form.

She said: "It is the best feeling ever. I needed these results to get on the A Levels I want to study so it was important for me to do well."

"They really reach you the value of hard work at this school. To do well consistently across a range of subjects is tough but at Villiers we learn the value of hard work and determination."

Aya Asse, 16, from Ealing, scored a remarkable 10 A* or equivalent. She said: "It feels like a bit of a dream to be honest. I expected to do well but this has exceeded all expectation."

"You always doubt yourself after the exams but it just goes to show that hard work does pay off. I have to give a lot of credit to Villiers for the help they have given me."

"The intervention sessions, after school revision and working at weekends really does make difference. The teachers are so committed at this school."

Deputy Headteacher Chris Richards said: "This is a really proud day for Villiers High school. These results would put us among the best performing in the country for progress and close to the top of the borough table."

"There have also been some quite understanding individual results with multiple students bucking national trends to do extremely well across a range of subjects."

"We instil a very hard work ethic in our pupils to ensure they know that nothing comes easily. They have repaid us with fantastic determination."

"We look forward to welcoming many of our year 11 pupils will back to Villiers in September to study for their A Levels at our sixth form."