Newham College bucked a national downward trend by improving their pass rate by five per cent.

The further education college, which has campuses in East Ham and Plaistow, saw 165 teenagers sit exams with almost half - 49.3 per cent, achieving A* to C grades.

The East Ham campus take on GCSE students who are new into the UK while its main GCSE and A Level base is at the Stratford campus.

Overall, results show a 99 per cent pass rate in 2012 and a 98.8 per cent in 2013 rate for all subjects.

Deputy Director of the College’s Stratford Campus, Francesca Adedeji said: “We’re delighted that we are improving our results at a time when marking is becoming more stringent.

“Some of our students are very recent arrivals to this country, so all of them and our lecturers should be congratulated for their hard work.

“We’re also encouraged about the big improvements on results two years ago in 2011 when our pass rate was 85 per cent.”