A levels: Kesteven and Sleaford High School doubles top results compared to pre-Covid

Kesteven and Sleaford High School also managed a remarkable 69 per cent of grades A* to B beating the 2019 results by 15 per cent.

Overall the 60 students achieved a pass rate of 100 per cent with 92 per cent of all exams resulting in grades of C and above.

Headteacher Jo Smith said the students’ achievements were exceptional.

“I am so proud of how the students have performed this year. At a time when the national picture on exams is so gloomy our pupils have excelled,” she said.

“To face the challenges of so much disruption during the pandemic and still achieve such high grades is a remarkable achievement. I am so proud of the students, the staff and the families who have been so supportive.

“I am excited about what the students can achieve as they go onto the next exciting chapter of their lives.”

Among the success stories was 18-year-old Keira Beeson, of Sleaford, who sat her CTEC exams in health and social care in the summer after recovering being seriously ill in hospital with sepsis.

Keira was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis – an inflammatory bowel disease - aged seven, leading to multiple hospital stays, pain and flare-ups of the condition over the years.

She has raised awareness of the disease and collected funds for Crohn’s and Colitis UK, receiving the British Citizen Youth Award at The Palace of Westminster.

According to mum, Shelley, between October 2021 and March 2022, Keira suffered further flare-ups of sepsis during six months in hospital, having just started sixth form at Kesteven and Sleaford High School in the September.

Doctors battled to control the infection and feared Keira would suffer serious brain injury, but she slowly woke from an induced coma and stuck to her physio and therapy sessions to learn to walk and talk again.

Returning to the High School in September 2022 she sat her exams and even proudly attended her prom with friends at the Doubletree Hilton in Lincoln.

Keira said: “I’m going to take a year out and focus on getting better and deciding what to do after that, just living life and enjoying myself.”

Mum Shelley said: “We were unsure she was gong to make it back to school but she wanted to be with her friends and sit her exams and see what happens – she passed with distinction – surprising for a girl who could not walk or talk, lying in hospital two years ago.”

Other students were pleased too. Elliott King of Metheringham Fen, picked up his A and two B grades with his dad Paul. Initially thinking he had not made the grade, he learned he had got into Durham University with a bursary and has been selected to train at Sandhurst to join the Army afterwards.

Madeleine Wighton of Timberland will be heading to Cambridge University to study natural sciences after getting three A* grades. She said she would be celebrating over lunch.

Scarlet Enright of Sleaford also got three A* grades and will study medicine at Sheffield University. She said: “I was predicted those grades but you never know.”

Molly Joyce of Sleaford got the grades she needed to join the RAF to work in logistics, following in the footsteps of her parents who have both served in the Air Force.

Lucy Croft of Navenby announced: “Now I can shop at Ikea!” after getting the two A grades and a B to study medicine at Hull York Medical School. She was referring to a gift voucher promised as a reward.

"I’m going out for tea with my friends and celebrating,” she said.