SUCCESSFUL students are coming back down to earth after picking up their GCSE results.

Hundreds of youngsters anxiously queued up at their schools early this morning to see if the last five years of hard work had paid off.

Many of the budding academics were left with huge smiles on their faces as they tore open their brown envelopes.

A Level studies will be the next stage of life for the majority of scholars with others moving on to apprenticeships.

See tomorrow’s Mid-Devon Advertiser for a full round-up of results and more photos.