Double joy as twins scoop 11 As

A pair of twins who moved to England from Hong Kong two years ago with only a basic grasp of English have achieved 11 As at A-level between them.

Yan-Yi Li, 19, who is going to the University of Warwick got six As and Yan-Ling Li, who plans to study at King's College London, got five.

The twins, who studied at Colchester County High School for Girls in Essex, were amazed at their results.

"I am very pleased. I did not expect to do so well," said Yan-Ling.

Alongside their A-level lessons the twins attended English classes arranged by the school.

"I did find it more difficult because I did not speak much English but I was fortunate that I chose subjects that did not demand exceptional English language skills," Yan-Ling said.

'School's best ever results'

The twins came to live in England with their mother, a former primary school teacher, and their father, also a teacher, still lives in Hong Kong but hopes to join the family next year.

Yan-Yi was one of four girls who picked up six grade As at the school. A further 15 gained five passes at grade A, 19 students achieved four grade A's and 30 were celebrating with three A's.

Olympic hopeful Catherine Holdsworth from Colchester was one of the girls to gain four grade A's.

As a member of Colchester Harriers she said she had to train four or five times a week and managed to fit in homework between training sessions.

As well as studying physiotherapy at the University of East Anglia her future plans include competing in the 2012 Olympics.

"In an ideal world I would love to just do athletics. I'm doing physiotherapy at university so at least there's a guaranteed job at the end of it," she said.

Head teacher Elizabeth Ward said this year's results were the best ever with 11 students heading to Oxford and Cambridge.