CLASSMATES have proved they have some of the best brains in Britain, after scoring four of the country's top five marks in GCSE English.

The pupils, Laura Warwick, Rachael Barnwell, Anna Button and Mark Atwill were all in the same Year 11 English class at Park View School, in Chester-le-Street, last year.

Almost all the pupils in Monica Loughlin's class achieved A or A* grades in their exam.

The AQA examining board said the marks awarded to those four pupils were in the top five awarded to the 380,000 students across the country who took the English Literature GCSE.

The classmates are all now in the school's sixth form.

Teacher John Anderson, who was the students' head of year at the time and now head of the sixth form, said: "It was a strong year group and the kids worked very hard."