It's A-Level results day, and young men and women across Penarth are tearing open envelopes to find out where the future will take them.

St Cyres school has performed exceptionally well in their A Level examinations.

There were plenty of outstanding individuial achievements, with 18 per cent of grades being an A* to an A.

70 per cent of the school's results were graded A* to C which is higher than in previous years. 100 per cent of their students earned one or more A8 to E grades.

Dr Jonathan Hicks, head teacher of St Cyres, said: "These are once again excellent results for the students of St Cyres and represent their hard work and the professionalism and dedication of our teaching staff who have supported them every step of the way.

"We are very proud of what these young people have achieved. I congratulate them on their achievements and wish them well in the next stage of their lives.

"Education should be a lifelong habit and our students are now well-placed to achieve further success, both at university and in their future careers."

Alice Morgan grabbed two A*s and two As. She is off to Exeter.

"I'm super excited to do Law with French," she said. "I'll get a year abroad as part of my course which will be really cool."

Hassan Malik earned two A*s and two As. He whooped as he opened the results. "I thought I'd get 3 As and a B maybe but this is amazing. I'm over the moon.

"I'm planning to do Law in Cardiff. I never thought I'd do this well or I'd probably have set my sights on something even higher!

"I've never opened the results at school, always at at home - I'm usually a bit disappointed. This is the first clean sweep I've gotten and I can barely speak I'm so excited."

Haroon Siddique earned three As and two Bs, securing a place at Cardiff University to study medicine. He took four subjects and the Welsh Baccalaureate. He said: "I mean I'm just ecstatic. There's no other feeling like it. I didn't check whether I got into uni beforehand and wanted to wait for results - so I'm extremely happy."

The good results are mirrored at Stanwell School.

Deputy head Mark Lewis said: "We have five of our pupils off to Oxford and Cambridge. That's a really good result for the students - and for us. Results at A* level are up amazingly high.

"16 per cent of our pupils have earned an A* and 37 per cent have an A.

"Under the new measures, we have 23 per cent of students getting three A* to As and 71 per cent getting three A* to Cs. Our pupils earning an A* to E in at least one subject is 99 per cent. That underlines how good the results are. We're very, very pleased for them.

"It's been quite difficult with a lot of the new exams not being in place for long - we have fewer materials to work with, fewer past papers and so on, so it's an outstanding result.

"Most students have got the results to get to where they want to go. Some of them who haven't even applied to university are now looking for places through clearing. Everyone will get something that they'll be happy with.

"As a teacher, we have had a lot of people saying thank you. They've been a good year!"

Jacob Dimond earned a B and two Cs. He said: "I'm definitely happy with it. I'm looking to go straight into employment - right now I'm leaning towards an apprenticeship in the fire service."

Andrew Lewis earned an A*, an A and a C.

"I thought I was going to get three Es, so I'm so confused!" He said. "Honestly I'm in shock.

"Originally I was going to go to uni to study musical theatre but now I'm thinking of taking a year out. After the stress of A Levels I just want to take a bit of time to chill, and earn some money."