A PEEBLES pupil was this week celebrating winning a place at Cambridge University after securing top marks in his exam results.

Talented Charlie Griggs’ jubilation was echoed by his former classmates from Peebles High School whose achievements put them well above the national average in the examination stakes.

The 18-year-old from Bonnington Road gained A1s - the top grade possible - in Advanced Highers at mathematics, economics and history to realise his dream to study at one of the UK’s leading seats of learning.

“I am still on a high about it all at the moment,” he told the Peeblesshire News. “It’s been my ambition to go to Cambridge for four years now.

“There’s been a lot of hard work along the way but it’s all been worth it and it feels so good that I’ve made it.” Charlie has been a pupil at George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh for the last two years but fell in love with the idea of Cambridge four years ago when at Peebles High School.

“It all started when I went to the Cambridge conference. It seemed the sort of place I would like to go to - and I never seriously considered going elsewhere,” he said.

“I did take a brief look at Oxford but the courses didn’t seem as good. I liked Cambridge as a place and enjoyed it when I went down for more conferences.” Charlie’s mum Fiona and dad Michael, who runs an IT business, are brimming with pride over their only child’s achievement.

“His intelligence hasn’t come from me, though his dad is fairly bright,” said Mrs Griggs. “It is absolutely wonderful what he has done.

“He’s known for a long time what he’s wanted and he’s worked so hard at it. He really deserves this.” Charlie made the decision to go to George Heriot’s as the independent school had former Cambridge students among its teaching staff.

“Six or seven if us are going to Cambridge and Oxford and it has been a great place to learn. But I’ve been working at it night and day.” he said.

Charlie came through a tough selection process to become one of just 15 students to win a place to study law at the renowned Downing College.

“I liked Downing best of all the colleges as it is one of the biggest and law is its speciality,” he said. “The professor at my interview made it all seem straightforward and I thought that I would like to work with this guy.

“The accommodation is great - they have nice big beds - and the place is really green and reminds me a lot of Edinburgh.” Charlie is not looking too far into the future and said: “I’m not sure whether what I’ll do at the end of it all. It might be a job in finance, politics or the diplomatic service.” Had his Cambridge dream fallen flat he might well have taken up his Plan B - to do charity work. In his limited spare time Charlie has worked for the Johari Foundation, a charity that supports child education in Kenya.