Bermuda High School for Girls is ecstatic about recent GCSE results achieved by its students.

And one student in particular, 16-year-old Madeline Gardner, placed in the top five out of 373,834 students in her English Literature GCSE exam.

Madeline received straight A grades in nine GCSEs, with six A stars ? the highest possible grade.

She is now has begun boarding school this year at Sevenoaks School in Kent, England.

Of all the exams written by BHS students, 42.2 percent received A stars or A grades while 70.7 percent scored a B grade or above. The national UK average is 17.4 and 34.7 percent respectively.Head of the school, Roy Napier, told : "These are the best results we have ever received."

He added that BHS students sit their GCSEs in grade 11, but up until one year ago they wrote them in grade 12. This change was because once the students finish the GCSE they can go into BHS' two-year International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma programme and then they will be 18-years-old when they take off for college.

Ms Gardner received a letter of congratulations this month from the Director General of the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), Michael Cresswell.

AQA is a GCSE examination board in the UK.

Receiving the letter from Mr. Cresswell is highly unusual, said BHS teacher Paul Toomer, who has been an examining officer for 13 years.

He said he had never seen a letter sent to a student from AQA before.

Of the BHS students who scored outstanding results on their GCSEs, 13-year-old Amy Peniston received a B on her IGCSE Mathematics Exam. Most students normally write the IGCSE at the age of 16.

Normally the IGCSE syllabus takes two years, but Amy completed it in a mere year.

IGCSE is basically the same exam as GCSE, however it is international.

Mr. Toomer added that in his years of being an examining officer in Bermuda and the UK he has never seen a higher percentage of A star and A results.

Head of secondary school, Linda Parker said: "This is the first time I have ever been in a school with such rewarding results.

She said the reasons for success could be attributed to the hardworking, talented and focused students, dedicated staff and very supportive parents.

"When we all play our respective roles you have excellent results," she said.

The majority of the students who took the GCSEs will continue their education with the IB programme at BHSA. A few students left to go to boarding school.

Another impressive accomplishment by BHS students was that one-third of BHS' 2004 IB class placed in the top-fifth percentile, world-wide.

Paula Finsness placed in the top two percent world-wide with her IB results.

Mr. Napier, who previously was head of an IB school in Ontario, Canada for 14 years said that the 2004 IB results were the best he had ever seen.

The average points earned were 36 with a maximum score of 45.