Triplets celebrate exam success

The girls have accepted places at different universities

Triplets and an "exceptional" schoolgirl are some of West Yorkshire's best A-level achievers.

Antonia, Felicity and Heather Wimbush, 18, said "healthy competition" helped them to achieve three A grades each.

The girls, who share a room at their home in Wakefield, will separate for the first time when they head off to different universities.

Clare Walker Gore, from Rothwell, was one of the top five candidates in the country in all three of her A-levels.

Clare, 18, scored top marks in English literature with 600/600, making her first among the 19,411 candidates who sat the exam with the same board.

The Wakefield Girls' High School pupil was also one of the top five students - out of 4,090 - who sat French, scoring 588/600.

'Really pleased'

She scored 590/600 for classics, and in AS-level history she dropped just one mark, with 599/600.

Clare, who was born with a spinal injury which makes walking difficult, said: "I worked quite hard, steadily. I don't like cramming.

"I was predicted four As but I'm really surprised at this. I'm really pleased."

She will now go to Selwyn College, Cambridge, to study English.

Head teacher Pat Langham said: "We've never had results quite like this before - they are really exceptional."

The triplets, who are pupils at the same school as Clare, said they chose different subjects for their A-levels because they were genuinely all interested in different things.

Clare was born with a spinal injury which makes walking difficult

Antonia, who took French, Spanish and Latin, will be taking a year out in Spain and France.

She will then take up a place at Exeter University to study Spanish and French.

Felicity, who took art and design, chemistry and geography, now takes up a four-year course in geography at Lancaster University, which includes a year in Australia.

Heather, whose A-levels were history, biology and food technology, will start a four-year course at Reading University to study food science.

The non-identical triplets, who are already planning trips to visit each other, said: "We're very close, we're good friends."

Antonia added: "We're quite competitive, but we like to help each other as well."

The girls said it would be "strange" to be apart for the first time.

"We're a bit nervous but also excited," Heather said.

"It will be different. It will be very quiet with your own room - we're used to sharing a room."