After weeks of anxious waiting, students from across Waveney collected their GCSE results today.

There were plenty of smiling faces as students realised they had achieved their desired grades as well as disappointment from those that did not get the results they wanted.

Schools in Lowestoft, Southwold and Loddon published similar pass rates to last year, with the percentage of students achieving five A*-C grades including English and maths remaining steady.

However, Sir John Leman High School in Beccles and Bungay High School both showed improvement. At Beccles, the proportion of students achieving five A*-C, including English and maths, increased by 7pc to 57pc and the overall A*-C pass rate went from 80pc to 88pc.

Meanwhile, 59pc of Bungay High pupils gained five A*-C grades, including English and maths compared with 52pc last year.

Two of the four high schools in Lowestoft are currently in special measures and have recorded pass rates below or close to the government's floor of 40pc of students getting five A*-Cs, including English and maths.

The proportion of East Point Academy students achieving five A*-C grades, including English and maths, was 39pc compared with 41pc last year. Ormiston Denes Academy, formerly Denes High School, has declined to publish its latest results but principal Peter Marshall said they were close to last year's figure of 29pc achieving five A*-C grades including English and maths.

Mr Marshall said the school would look into challenging the grades and was committed to working hard to improve them for 2014 and beyond.

Rory Fox, executive headteacher at East Point Academy, who was parachuted in earlier this year to help improve the school's fortunes, said the results had been expected but a big improvement was predicted for next year.

Hobart High School, in Loddon, saw a 2pc improvement in A*-C pass rates while independent establishments Langley School, in Loddon, and St Felix School in Southwold both posted strong results.

Nationally there has been a drop in the proportion of GCSE exam entries awarded top grades for the second year in a row.

The percentage getting an A* or an A fell from 22.4pc to 21.3pc and the proportion of students achieving A* to C overall is down by 1.3pc to 68.1pc.