A STUNNED teenager was celebrating after finding out she had finished in the top five students in the country for maths.

Jill Drury, from St John's RC School, in Bishop Auckland, was delighted when she opened her results to find she had achieved four straight As.

But then the 18-year-old opened her maths results to find she was among the top five students out of 981 candidates in the country.

The teenager said: "I was expecting to get As but I never thought I would do as well as I have. I am really pleased.''

Jill took her examinations in biology, chemistry, physics and maths, and will go on to study engineering at Cambridge University.

Alex Long. from Wolsingham Comprehensive, was also delighted to get four As in English, Spanish, Portuguese and maths.

She said: "I am shocked I just didn't expect this at all. I am in a daze.''

Alex, 18, is looking forward to studying law at Oxford University and praised her language teacher Steve Glover.

She said: "I was the only one who took Portuguese and he pulled out all the stops to help me pass.''

For new headteacher at St John's School, Gerard Moran, it was an active first day. He said: "I am very please to take over today on such a great day with an excellent pass rate at 95 per cent.