In an exact reflection of last year, one dozen Withington pupils have been offered undergraduate Oxbridge places this January. Of the twelve seeking places at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, ten current Sixth Formers have conditional offers, whilst two recent leavers – Ella Baggaley Simpson and Zara Ali – have secured unconditional offers having taken a gap year in 2013/14.

Eleven of the girls holding Oxbridge offers with Mrs Marks

Seven girls have received offers from Oxford: Aditi Aggarwal – Trinity, Medicine; Freya Sykes – St Edmund Hall, Geography; Lucinda Chamberlain – Brasenose, PPE; Antonia Halliwell – St Hugh's, French and German; Emma Ratcliffe – Merton, Spanish and Portuguese. Open* college offers have gone to Leila Parsa for Law and Ellie Gorton for Chemistry.

Offers from Cambridge have been achieved by a further five pupils: Rachel Solomons – Magdalene, Medicine; Sheanna Patelmaster – Girton, Philosophy; Hannah Loftus – Newnham, HSPS; Zara Ali – Newnham, Medicine and Ella Baggaley Simpson – Newnham, Economics.

Another former pupil, Hannah Redhead, is also celebrating after being given a conditional offer at Wolfson College, Cambridge to read Veterinary Medicine on a postgraduate course.

Headmistress Mrs Sue Marks commented: "Competition for places at Oxford and Cambridge has always been intense, and in recent years it has become increasingly international. We are delighted for our girls' success in competition with some of the world's best students."

*Open offers are offers made to candidates where a place at Oxford University and a College is guaranteed should they fulfil the conditions of the offer. However, the specific College is decided in August once the examination results for all candidates are available and it is known which Colleges have vacancies.