The score is the fourth year in a row the college, where hundreds of students from Petersfield and Whitehill and Bordon study, has achieved such a high pass rate.

While many outsiders may complain that exam results are getting easier these days, staff at the college feel it is the hard work by students and teachers which brought the good grades.

Vice principal Steve Mac-Cormick said: “This is the fourth year running that we have been a 99 per cent pass rate. It depresses me when people say they (the exams) must be getting easier.

“I actually believe the students today know how important it is to study and the fact they need the A level grades to get on most of the Higher Education courses.”

He added grades had continued to improve over the past few years because the level of support provided by the college and staff had got better.

“We are here to give them that little push they need when they need it,” Mr MacCormick said. “It is the highlight of the year and we are incredibly proud of our students.”

It was not only A levels where Alton College students excelled. In vocational training courses, such as engineering, business studies, IT and art and design, students performed equally well, with BTEC and National Diploma scores attaining a 99 per cent pass rate.

Principal Jane Machell said: “Vocational students did superbly – 65 per cent got all distinctions and merits and an overall 99 per cent pass rate was achieved.”

She added: “These grades are absolutely vital. It is a passport into Higher Education for many of them and a route onwards to high flying and well-paid careers.”

Former The Petersfield School pupils John Harfield and Jack Munnelly are off to Oxford University, along with Petersfield girl Elly Steinberg, after getting the grades they needed, while ex-Bohunt student Joel Halliday is heading for Cambridge.