Four out of the five schools in the borough celebrated an increase in pass rates this year. A massive 59 per cent of pupils at William Parker school took home five A*-C GCSEs including English and maths, and at the Grove school, 42 per cent of students achieved these five A* to C passes, while Filsham Valley saw this pass rate increase to 48 per cent from 34 per cent last year, and the pass rate at Helenswood school was also up five per cent on last year.

Hillcrest school saw their results tumble from 21 per cent of pupils gaining the five A* to C passes last year, to just 15 per cent of youngsters this year, one of the worst results in East Sussex.

Deputy head Doug Hill was pragmatic. He said: "The results have been disappointing. I can't disguise that.

"A lot of hard work has been done, but in terms of results, we are disappointed. Exam results are far from what we expected.

"We have made curriculum changes which we should see the impact of with next year's results, and we've made some changes to the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom, that should show some improvement.

"Results should be considerably better next year."

At the other schools, there were definite signs of celebration.

Filsham Valley headteacher Peter Midwinter, who has been in the post for 15 months, was delighted with the school's results. He said: "These are the highest GCSE results we have ever achieved. The atmosphere at the school has been electric.

"We have raised the aspirations of the students from an outlook which lacked ambition.

"We, as staff, feel the students have rewarded us, with interest.

"Our target was to achieve 22 per cent A*-Cs including English and maths because we are considered a vulnerable school but we achieved a stunning 34 per cent. The Government target is 30 per cent."

Top performers at Filsham Valley included Rosie Wood, who took home an A* and five As, and Kristina Terry with two A*s and four A grades.

At William Parker, Alex Collins had an amazing haul of 11 A*s and A grades, and Nathan Thomas achieved eight As and A*s.

Head teacher John Court said the 10 per cent improvement on last year's results was "stunning".

He said: "These are the highest grades the school has had since we went comprehensive.

"It shows great encouragement, and it's a testimony to the hard work of staff and students, and the support of parents. The job now is to maintain and develop that."

Acting headteacher at Helenswood, Trevor Jarman, said: "It's always nice to see pupils smiling.

"The results are very useful advance on last year. We're always committed to continuous improvement in results, and we're aiming to achieve even better results next year."

And Grove school head teacher Jenny Jones said: "We have achieved the best pass rate ever for our students, the results of hard work and commitment from students supported by their teachers."

High flyers at the Grove included Richard Reid, with two A*s and four As and Sam Tupin, who took home two A*s and six A grades.