There were many smiling faces at sixth form campuses around west London on Thursday morning (August 18) as nervous students opened their A Level results and found out if they had secured their university places.

There were inspiring stories from every borough including one student at Uxbridge College who surprised even himself after taking his A Levels twice and ending up with a set of grades strong enough to get into Oxford.

Hillingdon

In Hillingdon a lot of students were celebrating exam success including one Ruislip teen who had secured his spot at Oxford University.

Samuel Parritt-Gell from Queensmead School will be studying philosophy, politics and economics at Jesus College next year after he scored outstanding grades of two As and an A*.

Samuel Parritt-Gell

He said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Queensmead, both the academic and social side, and although I am sad to be leaving I am excited about the next stage of my academic journey.”

Overall at Queensmead, 99% passed their A levels and 55% achieve A* to B grades.

Uxbridge High School were celebrating success after 98% of students reached A* to E grades and 40% got top scored of A* to B.

One of the school's highest flyers, Sathuson Sivalingarasa was delighted with his A,A,B grades.

The 18-year-old said: “I'm happy. I was worrying last night. I'm going for a meal with my friends to celebrate.

“I'm not sure what I want to do yet [as a career]. I'm keeping an open mind.”

Sathuson will be starting a degree in civil engineering at the University of Surrey at the end of September.

Northwood School also had plenty to cheer about after 100% of students passed in both A Level and vocational courses for the third year in a row.

Northwood School students celebrating their results

Harrow/Brent

Whitmore High School students celebrated record results.

Sue Hammond, headteacher of the Harrow school, said she was "extremely proud" of them as the school boasted an 89% A*-C pass rate.

Among the top performers were Jibril Gudal (A*A*AA) who will study mathematics at Oxford University, Alexander Watts (A*A*A), Miraal Mayet (A*AB), Mohamed Elamin (A*AA), Liyah Leonard (A*AAB), Rahul Trivedi (A*A*B), Parisa Khatibi-Fard (A*BB), Anjali Trivedi (Health and Social Care BTEC Level 3: Triple Distinction Star) and Gary Smith, who has worked as a community coach for Watford FC (Sport BTEC Level 3: Triple Distinction Star).

Whitmore High School students celebrate record A Level results in 2016

George Rance, who got A*AA grades, said: "For a prospective English student, being lost for words is extremely rare but I couldn’t be happier with my A level results. My achievements are testament to my hard work and lots of support from my teachers and fellow students at Whitmore."

Capital City Academy in Brent recorded 60% A*-C grades, with a 98% overall pass rate.

Standout achievers included Hashir Azizi (ABBC), Eimantas Misevicius (A*AD), Tara Bishop (ABCB), Antonella Galarza (A*CC), Kiro Evans (ABC), Ines Tomanzino (B grade plus BTEC Distinction and BTEC Double Distinction), Akash Bava (Distinction and Double Distinction) and Mayur Patel (BTEC Distinction and BTEC Double Distinction).

Principal Alex Thomas said: "Thank you to all the staff for their hard work and well done to students receiving their A Level and BTEC National results today. The variety of pathways students have chosen to follow shows the spread of good results and the opportunities Capital 6 has to offer."

Stanmore's North London Collegiate School saw 46% of its students awarded the top A* grade or equivalent.

Excellent individual achievements include Amber Abrahams (A*A*A*A*) who is going to Cambridge University. She said: "I was a bit apprehensive beforehand and then I actually found out I had got my firm choice of university on UCAS online before I found out my results, so that was a relief.

"It was really nice picking up the results at school. All the teachers that had helped me along the way were there and it felt like everything had paid off finally in a big way. My mum is literally over the moon. I think she’s more excited than I am."

Serena Bessant also achieved four A*s and an A at AS and is going to read law at Oxford.

In the IB Diploma, five girls – nearly 20% of the school’s IB cohort – achieved the maximum score of 45. The school’s average point score was 41.4, compared to the national average 36.4 points.

Maximum scorers included Kanak Shah, Hannah Wu, Sabrina Mohamed, Daphne Rutnam, and international ice skating champion Aurelija Ippolito.

Ealing

A record number of pupils at Notting Hill and Ealing High School qualified for Oxbridge universities as teenagers across the borough learned their fate.

A total of 14 pupils will be going to either Oxford or Cambridge at the independent school for girls, a new record.

It comes after 90% of pupils got A*, A or B and 72% of results were A* or A - with every single pupil achieving three or more A Levels.

Southall’s Villiers High School saw record breaking results with 71 per cent achieving between A* and C, their highest ever tally.

Grades between A* and B also increased to 37 per cent and Rebecca Sinnarajah, 18, from Southall, got three A* in her Science BTEC.

Student Batool Alharahsheh (below), who secured an amazing two A*’s and two A’s at the school, is astonishingly going through the Clearing process after missing out on her chosen universities.

Batool Alharahsheh will have to go through clearing despite achieving two A*s

At Twyford Church of England High School in Acton, 41% of the grades were A and A* and 73% were B or above, with 54 of the 270.

Student Thomas Ridout achieved A* in all 4 of his subjects - Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry & Physics - and will take up a place at Birmingham to study chemical engineering.

Meanwhile at Elthorne Park High school in Hanwell, 50% of students achieved A* and A grades while 76% achieved A* to B.

Jake Trowbridge achieved three A* grades in mathematics, further mathematics and in his extended project - in addition to an A grade in Physics.

He will be going to the University of Southampton to read Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Hammersmith and Fulham

Among the pupils celebrating at Ark Burlington Danes School in White City was an Olympic hopeful and a teenager who did not speak a word of English 10 years ago.

Suhayb Hirsi, 18, moved to the UK from Somalia in 2007. At the time he spoke no English, but since then he has mastered the language and excelled in his A levels. He got three A*s and an A and is now planning to study computer science at University College London or Imperial. He said: “I will call my family back home and tell them the results. They will be pleased.

When Suhayb Hirsi came to the UK from Somalia in 2007 he couldn't speak English. Now he has just achieved three A*s and an A in his A levels at Ark Burlington Danes Academy

“It’s a great achievement and I’m really happy with it.”

Mabast Hussein, 18 and from Ladbroke Grove, will study theoretical physics at Imperial after receiving two A*s and an A. He hopes to be competing in the 2024 Olympics when Brazilian jujitsu is added to the Games. He said: “I wanted three A*s but I’m happy to get into my first choice university.”

Mabast Hussein hopes to feature in the 2024 Olympics, after studying theoretical physics at university following his A* and A grades in A levels

And Ayesha-Neeli Malik realised a dream by landing a place at Oxford. She secured A level grades of As and A*s and will now study fine art at the world famous university.

She said: “I was nervous before the results, but I knew I did the best i could in my exams. I worked so, so hard, I never knew I could work that hard. I really wanted it.

“Oxford was always a pipe dream but at the end of Year 12 my teacher said I should be going to Oxford.

Ayesha-Neeli Malik will realised a dream after being accepted to study fine art at university. She received As and A*s at Ark Burlington Danes Academy

“I’ve had so much support from the school and my mum and now this is a dream come true. I’m so happy.”

Kensington and Chelsea

Overall the Royal Borough was well above the national average with 15% gaining A* (national average eight per cent), 45% gaining A* and A grades (national average 26%), 73% A* to B (national average 53 per cent) and 91% A* to C (national average 77%).

Students from Holland Park School enjoyed record-breaking results, with grades higher than ever before. A successive year of improved results saw 53% of the grades at A or A* and 19% at A*.

The A-level results for Cardinal Vaughan School cemented its place at the top of national tables. Over half, 54%, of the 495 grades yielded A* or A grades.

Chelsea Academy celebrated another crop of excellent A level results with 81% of its students achieving A* to C grades. The academy has maintained the high standards set since it opened, with half of all grades at A* to B.

At St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College in North Kensington, principal Elaine Taylor praised the hard work of students and staff. He said: “Once again the College is delighted with the continued academic success of our students.

“As a college we are blessed with highly motivated staff and students whose hard work and determination have produced excellent results. Over 96% of A level students passed their course with 58% achieving A* to C grades. 100% of BTEC students passed their programme with over with over 90% achieving merit, distinction or distinction”

She added over 400 students were expected to go to universities.

Westminster

DLD College in Westminster celebrated its first full year in new premises with impressive A level results.

The leading independent college enjoyed another record year with an overall pass rate of 98%.

An impressive 38% of students achieved A*-A grades, 63% achieved A* - B and 84% took home A*-C grades.

Principal Rachel Borland commented: “This is a very proud and exciting day for us at DLD College London. The move clearly did not affect any students and instead helped them to achieve great results.

“The students have worked so hard this year and it has paid off with many of them going on to do incredible things.”

Hounslow

Farah Fadhluddin got three As in her A levels - a decade after arriving in the UK from Yemen not speaking a word of English

A student who arrived in the UK from Yemen aged eight not speaking a word of English overcame the odds to secure a place at King's College London - studying English.

Farah Fadhluddin also had to contend with the distress caused by the civil war in her birth country, in which a number of her relatives have been killed or seriously injured.

She was not the only pupil at Cranford Community College to triumph against adversity.

Faisa Hassan bagged two As and a B despite the pressure of helping care for six younger siblings, and working part-time to supplement her mother's income.

And Gurpreet Wadhwa, whose family fled war-torn Afghanistan when she was a toddler, also secured twos As and a B - having been spurred on by the knowledge many girls in her native country are denied a proper education.

BTEC students at Isleworth & Syon School perform the Mobot

At Mo Farah's former stomping ground, Isleworth & Syon School, BTEC sports students performed the Olympic champion's famous Mobot celebration after bagging a clutch of top Distinction* grades.

Rachel Rodipe had particular cause for celebration after being nominated for the national BTEC Student of the Year award, in which she was highly commended.

The school's A Level pass rate was 99.2%, with 80% A*-Cs and more than 50% of grades being B or better.

The pass rate at Feltham Community College was 98%, with 75% of grades being A* or better when the results for A Levels and vocational courses were combined.

Heston Community School recorded 47% A*-B grades, with acting headteacher Ranjit Berdesha hailing the pupils, staff and families behind the "outstanding" set of results.

Alisa Musanovic (A* and 2As), Laura Finn (Two As and a B) and Evie Chalmers (A* and three As)

Students at Chiswick School had plenty to celebrate, with 79% of grades at A*-C.

There was also a big leap in the proportion of BTEC courses graded Distinction* or Distinction, from 63% last year to 79%.

Headteacher Tony Ryan said: "It was so lovely this morning to see young people delighted to be moving to the next stage of their life, many to the university of their choice."

At Gunnersbury Catholic School, in Brentford, 20 students achieved three or more A* or A grades.

The A*-C pass rate was 90%, with a third of results graded A or A*.

Lampton School in Hounslow recorded its best ever A level results, with 82% of grades at A*-C and 59% B or better.

Eight students achieved straight A*s and three are heading to Cambridge, three gained coveted places to study medicine or dentistry and one is heading to the prestigious Bucknall College in Pennsylvania through the Sutton Trust's US programme.

Brentford School for Girls said it had seen "an increase in all key measures" but did not provide any figures.

Jason Costa, of West Thames College, got a Distinction in his BTEC in animation and games design

West Thames College, in Isleworth, said more than 88% of students had passed their A levels.

Principal Tracy Aust also hailed some excellent results for students taking BTEC Extended Diplomas in subjects as varied as applied science and animation and games design.

At The Heathland School in Hounslow, nearly half of A level grades were Bs or better, and the A*-C pass rate was 78%.

Headteacher Harinder Pattar said: "This is another exceptional year for The Heathland School - the dedication of staff and students has been well rewarded."

He gave a special mention to Alisha Sahnan, who will be the school's first student to go on to study veterinary science, after securing a place at Surrey University.

He said Alisha has developed an interest in animals after seeing her neighbour's cat give birth to kittens.

He also hailed a clutch of students who gained sought-after places at Oxbridge or are heading to other universities to study medicine.

More results and reaction to follow.