Year 11 students at South Craven School, in Cross Hills, have experienced the highs and lows of results day, six months before the real thing.

They filed into the main hall, which was arranged in the same way it would be in August. And the students collected their exam results slips in authentic-looking brown envelopes.

Year 11 director Martyn Hill said there was a “real buzz” in the air as the pupils compared their results. The 20 best performing students had their photos taken for display on the school’s news board.

A spokesman for the school said: “The idea was to familiarise the pupils with the procedure of collecting the results.

“It was also to make them realise the importance of the mock exams and to give them some idea of where they stand with regards to their possible final results.”