A NATIONAL teen swimming ace whose dream is to compete at the Olympics was one of the stars of a Dalton school's GCSE results day.

Elated students celebrated achieving top GCSE grades at Dowdales School. Among the delighted 16-year-olds was Tom Robinson, an elite young swimmer who is

part of England Talent Programme. The athlete, who competes in the 200 butterfly and also open water events, has balanced his studies with a busy training and competition programme to achieve GCSE success.

Tom, who is in the pool at 6.30am to train and travelling around the UK for events, gained two As, four Bs and three Cs. "I'm over the moon.

"I'm motivated with swimming and I was motivated to revise and work hard.

"I enjoy my swimming and try to be the best I can, I like to push myself and see where I end up. My dream is to be a world class swimmer.

I'd love to go the Olympics," he said.

Tom is going to Barrow Sixth Form College, and then he hopes to go to America for university and swimming training.

The teen sportsman, of Ulverston, said he had had a great time studying at Dowdales.

He started competing in open water events over the last two years and he has been successful up again adult swimmers. He has an event coming up at Loch Lomond this weekend.

Jill Bowes, deputy head at Dowdales said: "Tom is absolutely amazing, he has worked so incredibly hard. He has had to balance all the training and competitions with his studies. He has done that all so well and achieved great results. It couldn't happen to a nicer boy."

Millie Dalton was shaking as she read her results, five A*s, which included a new grade nine and four As. The Barrow teen said: "I'm really pleased. I had a lot of opportunities at Dowdales. It's a really supportive community."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GCSEResultsDay2017?src=hash">#GCSEResultsDay2017</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DowdalesSchool">@DowdalesSchool</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Congrats?src=hash">#Congrats</a> <a href="https://t.co/ujNnpmbTqR">pic.twitter.com/ujNnpmbTqR</a></p>— Natalie Chapples (@nchapplesNWEM) <a href="https://twitter.com/nchapplesNWEM/status/900643728934809600">August 24, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A*-mazing Millie Dalton 5A*s(Inc9&8) 4As(inc7) & Sophia Walmsley 6A*s(inc 999!) 2As <a href="https://twitter.com/DowdalesSchool">@DowdalesSchool</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GCSEResultsDay2017?src=hash">#GCSEResultsDay2017</a> <a href="https://t.co/KXfsGbjFgv">pic.twitter.com/KXfsGbjFgv</a></p>— Natalie Chapples (@nchapplesNWEM) <a href="https://twitter.com/nchapplesNWEM/status/900655824623861760">August 24, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sophia Walmsley, of Dalton, was amazed to achieve three of the top grade nines in the maths, English language and English Literature, the first three subjects to be graded numerically from this year. Overall Sophia achieved six A*s and two As.

"I can't believe it, I'm in shock. I put in a lot of work but it paid off. Dowdales has been fun, I got the best out of my time here," she said.

Sophia is heading to Ulverston Victoria High School Sixth Form.

Headteacher Julie O'Connor, said: “Students were beaming with smiles as they opened their GCSE results’ envelopes this morning. Happy faces reflected their many individual and collective successes of the year group. Thirteen top performers achieved a string of top grades all at A*/A grades.

Students have responded brilliantly to all the changes to GCSE examinations and they have been very ably supported by the school’s talented, hardworking staff, together with parents and carers – all committed to the school’s continuing success. Students’ success this year is well deserved, everyone deserves to be smiling today. It’s well done and congratulations to everyone.”