Pupils were literally jumping for joy today after receiving top A-level results.

There was a 100% pass rate at Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls, in Monmouth, with 99.6% of entries from boys at Monmouth School passed.

Of those entries, 79.1% at Monmouth School were A and B grades, while 74.7% at the girls' school achieved the same high standard.

The candidates included George Sully, 18, who celebrated with a back flip after securing a place to study linguistics at Edinburgh University with A grades in English, French and Latin.

Fellow pupil Oliver Sleath, 18, managed to find time to earn his pilot's licence while studying for his A-levels.

He achieved four A grades in mathematics, further mathematics, chemistry and physics, as well as an A in AS-level Latin, and will now study mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Monmouth School headmaster Dr Steven Connors said: "These boys are shining examples to their peers.

"I am particularly happy as the headmaster of an all boys' school to see that our pupils have bucked the gloomy national trend for boys' exam performance as we have seen a significant improvement in their results.'' A total of 29 boys at the school achieved at least three A grades, and seven managed to gain four A grades.

At Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls, 26 pupils achieved at least three A grades, and two achieved four A grades.