ACROSS Gwent, there were tears of celebration - and some of disappointment - as A-level students picked up their results.

Students at Bassaleg School managed a perfect A-level pass rate - 100% of entries got between grade A and E - 34% of those were grade A, and 83% were between grades A and C.

Head Dr Ian Garrero called the results "amazing", and said: "Sixteen students got straight As, five of them achieved four A grades, and three are going to Oxford or Cambridge."

Rougemont School in Newport enjoyed a bumper year. From an overall pass rate of 98.3 per cent among the 39 pupils, a massive 74 per cent of entries were graded A or B, leaping from 55 per cent last year.

Head teacher Jonathan Tribbick said: "The results are exceptional and a tribute to the sheer hard work and determination that pupils and staff have ploughed into their studies."

Monmouth Comprehensive School enjoyed an overall pass rate of 97 per cent with outstanding individual successes for Faye Ashford, Jennifer Cresswell, Bethany Gudgeon and Joe Skilton who each achieved four grade As.

Headteacher Carole Anderson said: "These outstanding results are well deserved by our conscientious students and hard working staff." Pupils from King Henry V111 Comprehensive School, Abergavenny, also celebrated record results with a quarter of all passes at grade A.

Ben Lewis, Emma Medlicott and Rebekkah Robertson each achieved four grade As, while Emily Bransom, Isobel Calligan, Louise Crawshay, Lucy Holbrook, Jessica Martin and Nicholas Morgan each gained three grade As.

Caldicot Comprehensive scored a 95 per cent pass rate, and at Croesyceiliog School, deputy head Geoff Kingston said 12 students achieved straight As with 61% of entries scoring an A or a B.

At Fairwater School, Cwmbran, four students all got straight As out of a year group of around 60 - 96% of entries passed with grades A to E, while 57% got between A and C.

Charlotte Healy got four As and is heading for Birmingham University to study maths. She said: "I was over the moon when I got the results." Blaenau Gwent schools also celebrated outstanding A-level results.

Brynmawr Comprehensive head teacher Clive Boulter said pupils achieved the best A level results ever for the school.

The A to E pass rate was 97.8 per cent - Ian Caleb and Catherine Kershaw each achieved three straight As.

Mick Fahy, head teacher of Ebbw Vale Comprehensive, said their A to E pass rate was 93 per cent and the A to C rate was 48.5 per cent.

"The overwhelming majority of pupils got the university places they were after," he said. Student Hannah Price got three A grades.

Nantyglo Comprehensive had a 100 per cent A to E pass rate and a 60 per cent A to C pass rate.

Pupil Adam Crandon-Lewis did outstandingly with 4 A grades and Ryan Bowen got three.

At the Crosskeys campus of Coleg Gwent, four students notched up four A grades each, including Robyn Llewellyn who will now be going to Lincoln College in Oxford to study law.

Fourteen students also gained at least three grade As. The overall A to E pass rate was 99.04 per cent, up on last year's figures, and the pass rate in 29 subjects was 100 per cent.

General manager Jenny Jenkins paid tribute to all students and staff for their hard work. "We are all delighted with the way things have gone," she said.