PUPILS at Princess Helena College in Preston near Hitchin are celebrating another set of excellent A level exam results. Head girl Sally Potterton was delighted to achieve her place at Merton College, Oxford, to read music after receiving a string of thre

PUPILS at Princess Helena College in Preston near Hitchin are celebrating another set of excellent A level exam results.

Head girl Sally Potterton was delighted to achieve her place at Merton College, Oxford, to read music after receiving a string of three A grades.

Sally, who was has lived in Hitchin all her life, is an active member of the school orchestra and music groups, as well as taking part in Hertfordshire Youth Orchestra and being leader of North Herts Youth Orchestra. She hopes to take up music professionally after her time in Oxford.

There was also musical success for Anna Growns whose A grades in mathematics, music and geography secured her place at the Royal College of Music.

Other successes for the college included 47 per cent of all examinations achieving A or B grades and a 100 per cent pass rate across all subjects.

Headmistress Jo-Anne Duncan, who joined in 2008, said she was also particularly pleased by the excellent results in so-called traditional subjects such as mathematics, geography, and languages.

She commented: "These subjects may be on the decline elsewhere but we firmly believe they should be placed at the heart of the curriculum and we are delighted that our girls continue to excel in them.