Results are significant, but should not be considered the "be all and end all" of a student's success, a leading headteacher has stressed.

Rachel Fink, head of Hasmonean High Girls' School in Mill Hill, London, celebrated the school's A-level achievements, which saw 80 per cent of students attain a grade B or above, but added the importance of offering students a wide range of options that stretched beyond academic merit.

"We provide a religious framework that allows our students to do whatever they want in life," she said. "There is no single dimension. Students today have a broad range of options available, from the academic to the vocational, and it is important to keep providing this."

She added that the higher levels of pressure facing students today make it difficult to ease their concerns about attaining the best grades.

"The pressures on young people are almost unfair, and it's very hard to keep students focused on the fact that they are not just a list of results," Ms Fink said. "It is the pupil's personal progress that really counts."