The pupils' physics teacher, Glenn Martin, described the youngsters as "a pleasure to teach" and paid tribute to their diligence in class. "They are a credit to themselves and their families. All of them will go to university," he said.

"Mr Martin is a senior teacher in physics and has done a very good job and a consistent job over the years," said Mr [Anthony Quigley]. "He is an excellent teacher but the other two members of the department are also very good teachers.

"Physics in general has improved over the past five or six years, partly because we have been putting a great deal of effort into it as well as encouraging girls to do physics, which for many years they tended not to do."