Budding mathematicians celebrate A-levels at Lambeth school

Attending a specialist maths school may be some people's worst nightmare, but budding young mathematicians have been travelling from across the country to attend one in south London.

King's College London Mathematics School was started in Lambeth two years ago, and pupils have been finding out their A-level and AS results.

With all students at the school receiving either A* or A in maths, there has been plenty of celebrating.

Some of the students spoke to BBC News after they learned of their grades.

In spite of having a two-hour journey from Leicestershire each day, Henry Sinclair-Banks says he "doesn't think twice about the commute. I love this place".

He received his AS marks this year and averaged four A grades. "I'm happy as it means I can apply for the things I want to apply for," he said.

Henry said he first realised he loved maths when he was about six years old after doing a quiz at school.

"I was very good at it and I enjoyed it as well. That was a defining moment for me."

All being well, after his A-levels he says he will "probably go down the academia route".

Living in Morden, 40 minutes away, Zoe Loughton has less of a journey in but is equally enthusiastic about the school.

"Because it is a maths school, the environment is amazing as you are surrounded by similar people and the facilities are really good," she said.

Zoe said she only decided to do maths after receiving very good results in her further maths GCSE.

"Ever since then, I knew I wanted to be at this school", she said.

She said she was "really happy" to have received an A* and two As, and was off to Bristol University in autumn to study engineering and mathematics.

Having received an A*, an A and a C in her A-levels, Nathalie Moore has decided against going to university but is taking up an engineering apprenticeship instead.

She said she thought it would be better "learning the skills as you go along on the job", rather than "forgetting stuff you learn during the first year at uni".

Nathalie hopes to follow in the footsteps of the man who created the company she is joining, Sir James Dyson.

"Hopefully I'll become an inventor one day; that's the dream anyway," she said.

Riu Kawashima received an A* and two As in his A-levels, which he said he was "rather pleased" about.

"If I went to my local school, I think my results would have been very different," he said.

He said he was looking forward to studying maths at the University of Durham in October.

"I'll just see how it goes after uni", but in the meantime, "we're planning to go to the park to celebrate," he said.

King's College London Maths School

• Opened in September 2014 in Lambeth as a free school specialising in maths

• Students take A-levels in maths, further maths and physics, as well as an AS in computing or economics in their first year

• Minimum requirement for pupils joining is seven GCSE A*-C grades, which must include A* or A in both maths and physics

• Sixty-five pupils received their A-levels this year and the girls outperformed the boys

• Every pupil received an A* or A in maths - across the country 43% of pupils received the same grades in the subject