STUDENTS across Brighton and Hove jumped for joy as the city outperformed the national average for A-level results.

It was happy days at Bhasvic in Hove as 99.6 per cent of pupils passed their exams.

Just over nine in ten students achieved A* to C and many youngsters could not contain their excitement.

Carlo Livgren-Arjun, 18, was “over the moon” after achieving a B and two Cs, which meant he could study adult nursing at the University of East Anglia.

He said: “I’m well happy, I’ve got all the grades I needed to get into university.

“I was expecting worse, I was feeling really negative last night, but now I’m over the moon.

“I was always studying and did nothing else, but now it’s all worth it.”

Meanwhile Meena Kumar, 18, earned two A*s and two As and will study maths and philosophy.

“I’m so relieved,” she said.

“I was walking up the hill to Bhasvic literally shaking. I literally just love maths, and I wanted to do joint honours.

“To celebrate I’m going interrailing today, we’re going to Barcelona but stopping in Paris tonight for drinks.”

Bhasvic also saw impressive BTEC results, with 98.7 per cent of students passing.

Eighteen-year-old Max Lester did “way better” than he expected after achieving a distinction merit in his creative digital media BTEC.

Now he will go to Kansas in America to take up a football scholarship.

He said: “I’m buzzing. I was told I was going to get merit merit but I got a distinction too.

“Studying abroad is going to be a great experience. I’ve been in Brighton all my life.

“My parents are away right now so I can’t wait to tell them.”

Across the city, Varndean students were similarly beaming.

Principal Dr Phil Harland proudly said half of students had achieved A* to B grades alongside a 98 per cent pass rate.

“Results day, for me, is probably one of the happiest days in the academic calendar,” he said.

“When I went through this process there was not the same pressure as there is now.”

Tatyana Goodwin, 18, was “crying with relief” when she found out she had the grades she needed to study politics and philosophy at the London School of Economics.

She said: “I checked Ucas this morning and managed to convince myself I had not got in.

“I convinced myself I got a U in maths but I came out with a B

“Then I looked at the results this morning and just started crying with relief. Opening the envelope makes it all seem real.”

Meanwhile Isaac Young, 18, will begin an art foundation year after achieving As and Bs.

“I thought I was going to fail English after the last exam, I was depressed for about a week.

“I got a lift here and my heart was racing, I was distracting myself with the music on the radio.

“I’m going to this big, crazy family thing later so I was really worried about having to tell them the results, but they went really well.”

Grace Tucker will study at Plumpton College after finding her passion for animals while taking art.

She achieved an A* in fine art and a B in graphics.

“I’m chuffed, I feel well over the moon,” she said.

“In art I ended up doing a lot of work on animals and realised I wanted to do more than just draw them.”

A cheer must have erupted from Cardinal Newman College as 99.4 per cent of students passed.

Almost a third of students received A*-A grades, the college’s best ever results.

Alfie Smith, 18, achieved three A*s and will study geography at Oxford.

“I was doing so much studying my parents were worried, I didn’t leave my room for three weeks,” he said.

“But it was worth it. I’m very happy. I celebrated by interrailing across Europe with a friend.”

As expected, Roedean School reported fantastic results.

Identical twins Bryony and Anya Irvine both achieved one A* and two As and will go on to study politics – but at opposite ends of the country.

Bryony will study politics, philosophy and economics in Exeter, while Anya will read international relations at St Andrews.

“We do talk about politics quite a lot at home and tend to agree on most things,” Bryony said.

“We haven’t fallen out, they were just the courses that we wanted.”

It was fantastic day for Paloma Shemirani, who earned a spot at Cambridge just a week after bagging a place in the Miss Brighton final.

The 18 -year-old said: “Just because you enter a beauty pageant and want to look your best, it doesn’t mean you can’t be intelligent too.

“I want to win Miss Brighton and then go on to Miss GB and put this amazing city on the map.”