ONE way of keeping the anxious exam-nerves at bay is leaving the country for six weeks.

While thousands of teenagers around County Durham waited for their results, Elinor Fowler, from Durham jetted off to Australia after her exams.

She said: "I went away for six weeks so I didn’t have to think about it. I got back on Monday so I’m still feeling quite jet lagged.”

The Durham High School for Girls pupil picked up nine A*s and three As, including French, German, Latin and Greek – making her the school’s first non-bilingual pupil to achieve four GCSEs in languages.

Elinor, who is staying at the school to do A-levels in biology, chemistry, maths and history is hoping to go on to study natural sciences.

She added: "I'm ecstatic. I'm not sure how I managed it."