SUCCESS! A-level results round-up
STUDENTS PRAISED FOR THEIR ‘PERSEVERANCE’ IN ANOTHER SCHOOL YEAR HIT BY PANDEMIC
A-LEVEL students have faced another academic year blighted by the pandemic – but a big proportion of them were celebrating after achieving the grades they needed for a place at university.
Students again had a year of cancelled exams, but unlike the chaos caused by last year’s grading algorithms, this year their grades were teacher-assessed.
But results day was still far from normal due to the pandemic.
While some teenagers were invited on to their college campuses to collect results, others had to wait anxiously in front of laptop screens that had replaced their classrooms for the last academic year to find out their grades.
Loughborough College celebrated a raft of high-achieving, A-level and BTEC students, including Shivani Sud, who spent the pandemic also being a carer for her 85-year-old grandma.
Her story is told on Page 9. A number of Shivani’s year group had their sights set on some of the country’s top universities, including Oxford, Warwick University and the University of Bristol.
And they were not the only ones, as Ratcliffe College announced that 90 per cent of the class of 2021 were universities, accepted while at their Charnwood first choice College celebrated a long list of successful scholarship students.
Students of Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College (WQE) in Leicester achieved a 99 per cent
A-E pass rate across all subject areas this year.
An impressive 83 per cent were awarded highgrade passes - an increase of 5 per cent on previous years.
In vocational Level 3 courses, results were equally impressive, with 39 per cent at distinction grade or above and, overall, 73 per cent of all results were at a merit grade or above.
Paul Wilson, principal at WQE, said: “Our students have responded impressively through- out the pandemic and we always remained confident that they were well placed to be awarded these excellent outcomes, which are deserved.” Bosworth Academy students were commended for their “perseverance” throughout the last year as many completed their final year with high grades. A total of 12 students achieved three or more A* grades. At Twycross House School in the county, student Warren Smith was highlighted for an impressive five A* grades. The school announced that 39 students took a total of 122 A-levels in 16 subjects with 100 per cent at grades between A* and C. Most colleges reported a 100 per cent pass rate while, on a national level, a record number of students have been accepted on to UK degree courses this year, UCAS figures showed. Working from home paid off for Finn Hewitt, from Loughborough College, who achieved three A*s and is now heading to the Univer
You can’t deny how difficult and disruptive this last year has been
Student Finn Hewitt
sity of Oxford to study law. Although he had newfound independence from home studying, he said: “You can’t deny how difficult and disruptive this last year has been.”
And not just for students.
The class of 2021 celebrated their grades against a backdrop of quiet chaos for educators.
As results were revealed, the Teachers Union, NASUWT, called for contingency plans going forward to 2022.
Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary
of the NASUWT, said: “Whilst schools have done a tremendous job in picking up the pieces left of minister’s last-minute decision-making, many teachers were left running on empty with teacher workload at breaking point at the end of last term.
“We cannot afford a repeat of this confusion and chaos for yet another year.”
Now comes the nervous wait for school pupils ahead of GCSE results day tomorrow.