Wonderful results for the IB class of 2009

For the students from 1,500 schools around the world studying for the International Baccalaureate Diploma, the moment of reckoning comes at 1200 GMT on 5 July when they log on to access their results.

This year only 68 of those 45,132 students (0.15% of candidates) gained the magical 45 points meaning that they had gained full marks in every component. Two of those delighted students were from St Clare's, Oxford.

Jennifer Jiang from China turned down a place at Cambridge in order to study in the USA and Beth Kasperczak-Wright, formerly from Highworth Warneford school in Swindon, is going on to read English at Regent's Park College, Oxford.

It was a bumper year for St. Clare's students where the average score was 34.40 which is the equivalent of 4 grades A's at A Level and 16 students attained the elite category of 40+ points putting them in the top 5% around the world.

One person left smiling ruefully was Beth's brother, James, who joins St. Clare's to begin the IB this September and somehow has to follow in his sister's footsteps.