A schoolboy from Barrow picked up six A grades in his A-levels in 1997.

Nikhil Rathi, a pupil at Our Lady's School Chetwynde, at Barrow, scored top marks in Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths, General Studies, German and Physics.

He also passed two special papers in German and Chemistry, getting a distinction in German.

His performance in the German exam was the best of all and his result came accompanied by a letter from the examination board telling Nikhil that he had one of the best five results in the country.

He said: "I was overwhelmed, really pleased. It's been worth all the hard work in the end.

"I needed to get three As to get on my course at Oxford and I was fairly confident I would get that. I was surprised with what I got, especially the German."

Doctor's son Nikhil, from Windermere Avenue, was heading to Oxford University, where he would study politics, philosophy and economics.

He had been a pupil at Chetwynde since he was three-years-old and was appointed head boy.

Two years previously he got 12 starred A grades in his GCSEs and he had also represented the county at tennis.

In 2007 the catering team at Chetwynde School beat around 150 other schools across the UK and became Sodexho's independent school champion for that year.

As part of the catering company's annual Star Awards, Chetwynde's team was recognised for the quality of service and excellent catering standards it provided.

The school would go forward to the next stage of the competition in the hope of being crowned 'best team' in the education category.

Sodexho operations director Pamela Dixon said: "It gives me great pleasure to congratulate Claire Brewer and her team on achieving this accolade.

"They have all done a tremendous job in providing a quality service, always going out of their way to discuss lifestyle options and healthy eating with the school's pupils. The award is well-deserved."