After restless nights awaiting her A-level results, Sowmiya Gunabalasingam will sleep soundly tonight.

The Barking Abbey School pupil will study medicine at Kings College London after earning A*s in biology and chemistry and As in physics and maths.

"I'm so happy, I wasn't expecting this at all," the 18-year-old said.

"When I was waiting for results, time moved so slowly and it was hard to sleep at night."

She added she had been working towards studying medicine for a long time.

Sowmiya was among eight pupils at the Sandringham Road school to secure straight A or A* grades.

Other top achievers included Jumana Amin, who got A grades in English literature, history and religious studies.

She will study politics, also at Kings College London.

"I was over the moon, I was literally crying this morning," Jumana said.

"I stayed up the whole night just panicking and as soon as I got my results I was screaming my head off.

"My mum came running in asking what happened and I burst into tears, crying in her arms and told her I got into Kings, then she started crying as well."

Haroon Ayam, 18, will study English at UCL after he got A*s in English literature and sociology and an A in history.

"I needed A, A, A for UCL, but for English I really thought I'd get a B because I thought the first paper was awful," he said.

"Surprisingly, that was my best paper.

"I got my university offer first then an hour later the results came through and I was shocked."