Teenagers across East Sussex were yesterday celebrating some of the best GCSE results the county had ever seen.

Three local students achieved marks in French which were among the top five from 80,150 British candidates.

In a year when the volume of exam entries hit new highs, local results reflected a national trend which saw boys begin to close the gap on girls.

While girls still gain 5.3 per cent more A* and A passes, their lead over boys at the crucial A to C grade level was cut by 0.3 per cent to 8.9 per cent.

Clare Parker, who attended Ratton School in Eastbourne, was overwhelmed when she opened her results at the school and saw seven As and four A* grades.

She said: "I have not been worried about them at all. In fact I was worried that I was not worried enough! It was strange, all the emotions came at once because they had been building up. I did not really look at the subjects when I opened the results, it was just a mass of As. I thought I was going to get average marks, a couple of Bs.

"I was going to do art at Eastbourne College of Art and Technology (ECAT) but I got a couple of A*s for science so I might change and do science at Park College. I am mulling it over."

Tears and hugs were a familiar sight throughout East Sussex. Sixteen-year-old Katherine Hutchings, from Moira House girls school in Eastbourne, was lost for words at her results.

She got five A*s, two As and one B and received a letter from the exam board congratulating her on attaining one of the highest marks in the country for French.

Her mother Emily was ecstatic at her daughter's success.

She said: "I am so impressed, I cannot believe it. I am totally overwhelmed. We are extremely proud of her and every single girl in the group. The school has been incredibly supportive and very, very interested in each girl."

Friend Jessica Robinson, 15, was equally delighted with her six A*s, five As and one B.

Mother Angela said: "She has worked very hard and done well. We are very pleased."

Adrian Money, head teacher of Tideway School in Newhaven, was jubilant after the school achieved its highest results to date.

He said: "We are delighted with them, they are the best results we have had here by a long shot. Forty-three per cent of pupils gained five or more GCSEs at grades A-C. One pupil, Benjamin Pilford, did particularly well with seven A*s and three As.

Teenagers at St Bede's School in Hailsham were celebrating another year of impressive grades with a quarter of all marks at A* or A and 75 per cent of pupils gaining five GCSEs at grade C and above.

Deputy head teacher Andrew Fleck said: "The results as a whole reflect the efforts of our students at all levels. Our top candidates have excelled and all the way through the year there are students who have gained grades of which we and they are very proud."

An anxious wait was finally over for 16-year-old Marina Destsauveur, of Moira House in Eastbourne, who achieved three A*s, four As and two Bs. The results were good enough for her to sit her chosen A-levels in French, Spanish and English at Repton School in Derbyshire.

She said: "I couldn't really believe it. I am changing schools to go to Derbyshire and I want to continue to do languages. I would like to be an interpreter."

Mature students, many of whom struggled with additional pressures of child care and finances, also collected their results yesterday.

Georgina Bass, 29, who attended ECAT, gained a B in Maths while caring for her three-month-old baby and moving house in the middle of her exams. She will be returning next month to finish an A-level in psychology.

Alison Grant, 33, who got a B in Maths at the college, studied for the qualification at home and plans to embark on a teacher-training course.

Assistant principal, Tim Whitmore said: "The achievements of our mature students are made even more remarkable by the number of obstacles they often have to overcome to return to learning - balancing work and child care and such like with their study.

"At ECAT we try to make education as accessible as possible for adult learners by offering programmes specially tailored to meet their needs, such as home study."

There was a 93 per cent pass rate at the college and language students excelled themselves, with a record number of As and A*s in German and Spanish.

Forty two per cent of pupils at Bishop Bell School in Eastbourne achieved five or more A to C passes. At Cavendish School, Eastbourne, 56 per cent of pupils got A to C marks while at Willingdon School the rate was 57 per cent.

At Eastbourne Technology College, 28 per cent of pupils gained five or more grades between A to C. Head teacher Janet Felkin said although the results appeared lower than previous years, a significant group of students had achieved a series of A*s, As and Bs.

Pupils at Seaford Head Community College celebrated with 67 per cent of all grades awarded in the A to C category and 96 per cent of all students passing at least five GCSEs.

Head teacher at Eastbourne College, Charles Bush, was delighted at the college's results and said: "All the hard work of pupils and teachers has been rewarded."

The college set a record of 99 per cent of all students achieving six or more passes at grade A* to C.