Best friends Madeline Dearman and Sally Marshall received the best results they could have asked for in their GCSEs.

Both swept the board when it came to this year's newly-reformed courses, gaining 9s in maths, English language and English literature - a feat only 2,000 pupils managed to achieve across the country.

Earlier this year the exams regulator Ofqual estimated as little as two per cent of English language entries in England would score a grade 9 - the highest result of the new numerical grading system - while three per cent of maths GCSEs were expected to gain the same result.

Despite tougher exams, pupils in Cumbria excelled with the region seeing improved outcomes - while nationally the pass rate dipped.

A new grade 7 is equivalent to an A under the old system, while a 4 is equivalent to a C.

In other studies, Madeline, of Castle Carrock, near Brampton, also got five A*s and two As, while Sally got six A*s and two As.

The pair, who have been friends throughout their studies, were over the moon to have done so well.

"I was really happy because I didn't expect to get 9s in anything," said Madeline, 16, who is going on to study maths, biology, chemistry and philosophy at the school's sixth form.

"It was quite stressful and there was a lot of extra work. You just didn't know what to expect."

Madeline collected her results and stayed to see how Sally had got on.

"After I had seen my results, I knew Sally would have done well," she said. Sally, 16, of Cumwhitton, said: "I feel very relieved and very happy. All my targets were A*s but I didn't expect it to actually happen, especially in English because I got 6s in my mocks."

Receiving an almost identical set of results to her best friend, Sally added: "It's really nice because there is a lot of competition between us - friendly competition - and it would have been bad if one of us did better than the other. I'm really happy for her."

Calum Taylor, a pupil at Trinity School, was also top of the class, receiving a staggering three 9s and seven A*s.

The 16-year-old, who lives near Kingstown, said it felt pretty good the moment he opened the envelope.

"I was really happy when I saw it," he said.

QEGS pupil Ed Davies and Connor Richards from Keswick School also achieved top results.