THREE amazing students who came top of the class in Fenland say it takes a lot of hard work to make the new A* grade.

Liam Nicholson, Aimee Loosemore and Charlotte Hare were among a handful of students to get the new mark this year.

But they had to work their socks off to get into the top 10 per cent of results by working late, studying in free periods and skipping meals.

However as the Fens’ young rising stars head off to UK’s best universities with bright futures ahead of them, they say enjoyment is just as important as hard work.

Liam, 18, who goes off to Lincoln University to study creative advertising in September, said: “I’m really motivated because I enjoy it.”

The College of West Anglia student, whose top grade came in fine art, said: “I did work really hard. I worked through all my frees and on some days I didn’t have lunch.

“However I found it easy to put the effort in because I love art.”

He now hopes his higher education course will harness his creative skills and ensure his billboards are on the streets in a few years from now.

Meanwhile fellow Isle College student Aimee Loosemore said she was “pretty pleased” after bagging an A* in sociology.

She said: “My mum couldn’t actually believe it when I told her. You really do have to put the effort in.”

The grade had set Aimee up nicely to read psycho-socio studies at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

And Sir Harry Smith Community College student Charlotte Hare said: “I was totally shocked. I wasn’t expecting to do as well as I did.”

Her two A*s in English and sociology, as well as a B in history, secured her a place on the University of East Anglia’s prestigious English and American literature course.

That could lead to a semester studying in the USA as she pursues interests in North America and publishing.

Charlotte said: “I can’t believe two year’s worth of work has actually paid off.”