A HOCKEY player for Bracknell added to his sporting and academic achievements with a string of A* and A grades at GCSE.

Ranelagh School's Logan Russell scored six A*s and five As.

Other individual successes at the school included Lydia Shaw who achieved 11 A*s and an A, Grade 8 pianist Michael Makarchuk, who secured five A*s and six As and Anna Hall who exclaimed her relief when she read of her seven A*s and four As.

Richard Mellor, who came home with four A*s, 5 As and a B, summed up the mood.

He said: "This makes all the hard work, the past papers and the after-school sessions worthwhile."

Of the 159 Ranelagh students entered for papers this year, 83 per cent achieved the old benchmark of 5 A*-C passes including English and maths.

The boys narrowly outperformed the girls on this criterion, bucking the national trend.

Under the newer measures of Attainment 8 and Progress 8, the school scored a fine grade B and +0.53 respectively.

The latter means that pupils have achieved over half a grade above national expectations across their eight qualified subjects.

Meanwhile 53 per cent of students were eligible for the EBacc and 38 per cent of all grades awarded were A* or A.

As many as 20 students attained ten or more A* and As.

Headteacher Beverley Stevens said: "Students have laid some excellent foundations for the next phase of their education and development.

"This is an excellent set of results indicating really good levels of progress across the board.

"Students and their teachers deserve to celebrate."