Four high school students have been accepted on to a prestigious academic residential for gifted learners.

Neston High says four of its top A-level scholars have been offered places on the intensive Inspiring Excellence programme at the Villier’s Park centre in Cambridge sponsored by Cambridge University.

Assistant headteacher Kirsty Cunningham said: “It does not surprise us at all that so many of our gifted students have been accepted on this course for the country’s most able students.”

The Villiers’s Park Educational Trust helps able young people to develop their passion for learning through active involvement in workshops, group discussions and presentations. Each course is subject specific and is aimed at students expected to achieve four A grades at A-level.

Only 25 students are accepted on to each course and those selected are then tutored by Cambridge professors and lecturers.

Neston scholar Jennifer Moss said: “I am most looking forward to working with the Cambridge lecturers and other students who share my passion for chemistry. To be selected for a course as prestigious as this a real honour.”

Tess Clegg, an Oxbridge applicant, added: “It was so exciting to be given the opportunity to challenge my thinking and develop my subject knowledge with other Oxbridge candidates.”

Amanda Lacey, head of the sixth form at Neston High, commented: “What impresses me most about Villier’s Park is that it selects the very best academic talent from around the country and challenges those students to perform beyond their expectations. It is a fantastic opportunity for the students.”

Steven Dool, headteacher at Neston High, said: “It is wonderful to see so many of our talented young people taking scholarship so seriously.

“This is a school where to excel is the norm and I expect to see many more of our academically gifted students accepting places at Villier’s Park before proceeding to Oxford or Cambridge Universities.”

The four students will take up their places next year.