A 16-year-old West Norwood student got the highest mark possible in one of his GCSE exams as well as scooping 11 A* grades.

James D’Costa scored a perfect 200 out of 200 in his religious studies exam this summer at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial school in London.

Mr Patrick Fleischer, the Head of religious studies at the school said: “James is a wonderful boy who worked hard and benefited from the excellent subject knowledge of his teacher, Lawrence Gambella. A team effort.”

James said: “It wasn’t really hard but it was a lot of work to do. I spent two years just working really hard but it was with the help of two of my teachers, Mr Clark and Mr Gambella, that I was able to get such good marks.

“I am staying on at the school’s sixth form studying music and the classics but would like to go to Oxford or Cambridge to study law."

The diligent student did work experience at the Old Bailey and developed a keen interest in criminal law.

He said: “I found the whole criminal law process really interesting, it is very complex and something that I would love to get into.”

The student’s parents were ecstatic when he told them the news. He said: “They were quite amazed when I told them, they knew I was going to get good marks because I was predicted good grades but no-one thought I would do this well."

Britain's teenagers notched up record GCSE results this year, with the largest annual rise in top exam grades for almost 20 years.

Figures show that 65.7 per cent of the exams taken were awarded a C grade or above, an increase of 2.4 per cent on last year and the largest year on year rise since 1990.