Islington students are celebrating the rewards of their hard work today as their results top last year’s GCSE headlines for the borough, amid a national picture of falling grades.

Provisional results suggest the proportion of pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades including English and maths is greater than last year.

There has also been another strong performance in the proportion achieving the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) qualification, which will again be above the national average this year.

Many pupils are headed to one of Islington’s sixth forms to continue their studies, and today council leader Cllr Richard Watts visited St Aloysius College and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School to experience the results day buzz and congratulate students and staff.

Among the success stories was EGA pupil Kristin Benson, who racked up eight A*s and four As.

She already has her sights set on a career in the fields of artificial intelligence and augmented reality.

Kristin, who will go on to study computer science, further maths and psychology at City And Islington College, has wasted no time in pursuing her dream, landing an internship over the summer with Blippar, a firm specialising in augmented reality apps for mobile phones.

“I could never decide between computer science and psychology, and then I realised I didn’t really have to,” she said. “They are quite similar, computers and brains, so it is really interesting.”

Fellow EGA student Sulekha Farah gained four A*s, six As and a B grade and is heading to City And Islington College to study biology, chemistry, maths and history.

“I feel pretty good,” she said. “Maths has always been my strongest subject but this year I didn’t think I would get the A* so I am relieved that I did. I needed biology and chemistry because I want to go into medicine. I am thinking of becoming a paediatrician or getting into cardiology.

“Lots of people have pressure from their parents [to go into medicine] but that wasn’t what got me into it. I just feel like I have to give back to the community. It’s really important to me.”

Aspiring professional harpist Verity Roughton got two A*s and four As and is headed for Queens College London to study music, maths, physics and chemistry.

Verity said she has “always wanted to play the harp,” inspired by Catrin Finch, former harpist to the Prince of Wales.

She said she wanted to see her results straight away, and experienced a wave of relief on seeing “lots of As and A*s”.

Elsewhere, at St Aloysius College, Pawel Jelonek landed an impressive 12 A*s, and Mario Marin is heading for Christ’s Hospital boarding school in Sussex to study maths, English, history of art and philosophy.

Mario got three A*s, four As and three Bs, plus an A-level in Spanish – leaving his mum speechless.

He said: “In Years 10 and 11 I really had to pick up. [Head of sixth form] Mr Mugglestone really pushed me and made me want to do more; I really appreciated that.

“My grades are incredible. I wasn’t really ready this morning; I saw the first ‘A’ and thought, ‘It’s alright, it’ll be fine,’ and then I just pulled the rest of the paper straight out.”

Conor Zhou has a physics or astrophysics degree at Cambridge University in his sights after getting an A*, six As and two Bs today.

“I’m really happy with that,” he said. “I wanted to go to Woodhouse College and now I have got the results for that, so I’m really chuffed. I got the A* in history and I am really proud about that because that is the subject I struggled most with last year.”

After visiting the two schools, Cllr Watts said: “It has been really great hearing first-hand from students who were elated to see their hard work pay off with some amazing sets of results.

“I was impressed and proud to see such a strong work ethic shining through in Islington’s pupils and staff – congratulations to every one of them.”

Cllr Joe Caluori, executive member for children, young people and families, said: “The continued success of pupils in Islington is testament to the hard work they have put in over the last two years.

“But it wouldn’t be possible without the exceptional leadership shown by our amazing headteachers and fantastic teachers in the classroom.

“They go way above the call of duty to help our young people achieve their true potential and shape the future they want – whether that’s taking A-levels, vocational qualifications or training.”