Thousands of school pupils across Kent picked up their GCSE exam results today.

After months of waiting they finally got their hands on the envelope that will help shape their future.

We'll brought you news from schools around the county as the grades were announced.

Or liveblog followed the results as they came in:

11.35am:

That's it from us. Congratulations to everyone brave enough to open their GCSE envelopes today - and best of luck for the future.

11.35am:

11.34am:

About 60% of this year’s cohort at Herne Bay High passed both English and Maths.

10.58am:

10.53am:

10.50am:

10.48am

Best buds Ellen Comber and Laura Carlton will stay on at Folkestone School for Girls, after bagging the grades they needed

10.45am:

10.44am:

Students at Invicta Grammar are chuffed with their results

10.44am:

Students at a special school are celebrating today. Rivermead in Gillingham caters mainly for learners with Autism but also a growing proportion of learners with medical or mental health needs.

Over half of the current year 11 cohort were unable to sit the tests at the end of their primary schooling but 80% passed 5 or more GCSEs.

A spokesman said: "All the staff of the school are incredibly proud of the achievements that our year 11 students have made particularly when faced with often very challenging circumstances.

"We have a number of students who have achieved top grades in a range of subjects and we are delighted that all of our learners have a positive destination route which includes the Rivermead/Mid Kent College Partnership based at the Medway Campus."

10.33am:

Well done to Joseph Donkell-Jenner from Wilmington Grammar School for boys who got three 9/A** four 8/A* and one 7/A grades!! His next step is A-levels!

10.31am:

Students opening their results at Holcombe Grammar School

10.18am:

10.11am:

9.57am:

Huge congratulations to Miriam for getting a 9 in Maths & 7 in English only a year after moving here from Vietnam! She and her English teacher are over the moon.

9.54am:

Students at Thomas Aveling School Rochester have been celebrating "wonderful" results.

Top performing student was Rae McLoughlin who gained six of the new grade 9s along with a host of

other top grades. Grade 9s are only given to the top 2% of students in the country.

Rae is hoping to

study Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Computer Science at A level.

The school also had twins

taking GCSEs this summer and interestingly not one of these grades was the same in any subject.

9.52am:

Hundred of Hoo Academy students Samuel Hills and Amy Field are off to celebrate their results with a big breakfast

9.39:

Head of Thomas Aveling in Rochester said new system made teachers more stressed than pupils “but we did brilliantly”.

9.37am:

9.15am:

Ryan Ward's hoping for a car from his dad after his fantastic results. Dad...???!!

9.33am:

Headteacher of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, David Anderson: "At a time of unprecedented change to examination, it is wonderful to see that students at Queen Elizabeth's have secured results which reward them for their hard work and determination."

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8:58am:

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8.29am:

Schools Standards Minister Nick Gibb said: "Whatever pupils want to do with their lives, these qualifications will prepare them for future success and help deliver the skills Britain needs to be fit for the future."

8.27am:

8.21am:

No matter what results each pupil achieves help is at hand as kmfm will be hosting a Hit List GCSE Surgery with advice from people in the know about what to do next.

8.00am:

This year 20 new "gold standard" GCSEs were sat for the first time which follow a 9-1 system instead of traditional A*-G grades.

The government-led changes were introduced to allow more differentiation between the highest performing pupils and help employers identify more rigorous qualifications.

8.00am:

Good luck to everyone getting their results today. Great results can set you up for life... but many successful people have forged excellent careers on few qualifications... so don't panic!