A-Level results: Happy students look to new life at universities

Anxious students turned up at school halls in Abingdon, Didcot, Wallingford, Wantage, Witney, Bicester and Banbury to pick up the envelopes revealing their futures.

There were whoops of joy as many teenagers got the grades they needed to gain places at top universities.

But others fought back tears as they faced an anxious wait to get onto courses through the clearing process.

At Fitzharrys, Larkmead and John Mason schools in Abingdon, 148 pupils celebrated record results.

Twenty six per cent of students achieved A* to A grades, a record 56 per cent were A* to B, and 98 per cent were A* to E.

Christy Ward and Katie Brooks, both 18, toasted their places to study medicine with glasses of sparkling grape juice at John Mason School.

Christy, who achieved three A grades in biology, chemistry and maths, said she could not wait to start her course at King’s College London, while Katie, who got an A* in English literature and A grades in chemistry, biology and art, got a place at Bristol University.

Katie said: “It was such a relief to get in.”

Larkmead student Hollie Smith-Nelson got an A in performing arts and two B grades in economics and English literature to secure her place at performing arts school The Urdang Academy in London to study musical theatre.

The 18-year-old from Abingdon said: “This morning I felt sick because I knew I had tried so hard but I didn’t think I would get the results I wanted.

“When I saw them I burst into tears.”

In Didcot, the 155 boys and girls at the joint sixth form for St Birinus and Didcot Girls’ schools achieved 24 per cent A* to A grades this year, with three gaining places at Oxbridge.

Didcot resident Clement Collins-Rice achieved four A*s and has got into Merton College, Oxford, to study chemistry.

The 18-year-old said: “I’ve been longing to go to Oxford for so long and now I get to do it.”

Didcot Girls’ headteacher Rachael Warwick said: “After two years of hard work it’s really fantastic to see that the students have got on to great programmes.”

King Alfred’s Academy in Wantage was the first school to open for A-Level results, to give students a chance to get the best clearing places.

But there was cause for celebration as the school achieved its second best year in results, with 60 per cent getting A* to A grades.

Charlton Heights resident Lucy Falkner, 18, missed an A grade in maths by two marks but still achieved A*A B and got into her first choice, Bristol University.

At Wallingford School, the number of top A-Level grades achieved by sixth formers increased, with headteacher Wyll Willis welcoming a “very strong set of results”.

Last year there were 87 pupils at the St George’s Road school taking the exams, and this year there were 96.

The number of pupils getting A* to A grades went up from 28.3 per cent last year to 36 per cent this year.

Mr Willis said he was delighted with the results.

• Six of the best: From left, Rachel Cross, Cavenza Glithero, Sean Herbbert, Grace Braithwaite, Imogen Burgoyne and Sam Haselgrove at Wood Green School

He added that he wanted an Ofsted inspection to be carried out as soon as possible as he believed the school, an academy, deserved to have its good rating boosted to outstanding.

He added: “These are a very strong set of results and we are very pleased with them.”

Among the top performers were Will Vowell, 18, from Wallingford, one of two pupils who is heading to Oxford University, and Philip Holland, 18, from Wallingford.

Will got A* in French, A in German and A in history and has a place at Lincoln College to study French and Russian.

He said: “The teachers have done an amazing job – a lot of this was down to the teachers.”

Mr Holland got two A* grades in maths and further maths and two A grades in physics and chemistry and has a place at Warwick University to study computer science.

He said: “I’m over the moon. Some of the exams were quite difficult.”

The percentage of pupils getting A* to B grades was 51 per cent – down slightly from 55.3 per cent last year. The percentage of pupils getting A* to E grades was 96 per cent – down from 99.6 per cent last year.

Wood Green School in Witney achieved its best ever results just two months after coming out of special measures.

Twenty five per cent of all grades awarded were A* to A, and 61 per cent were A* to B – an improvement on the previous year of 20 per cent A* to A and 42 per cent A* to B.

Students achieving A* and A grades included Imogen Burgoyne, 18, who gained three A* grades in History, French and German. She is set to go to Birmingham University to study a degree in French, German and Russian.

Carenza Glithero, 18, gained two A*s and two As and will study medicine at Queen’s University in Belfast.

• Relief: Katie Brooks and Christy Ward toasting their success at John Mason School

Headteacher Rob Shadbolt said: “This reflects the amount of work we have put in raising achievement over the past two years.”

The school gained a good Ofsted grade in June after being in special measures since October 2013.

At Henry Box School, head of sixth form Carl Tysom said he was pleased with the percentage of A* to A grades increasing to 25 per cent from 24 per cent last year.

In Bicester, The Cooper School is celebrating its best set of A-Level results since introducing a sixth form in 2011.

A record number of 82 students sat exams at the Churchill Road school with half of all entries achieving A* to B grades.

Twenty two per cent of entries were in the A* to A category.

On the other side of town The Bicester School – formerly known as Bicester Community College – was also celebrating a rise in the number of A* to A grades from last year.

The percentage of entries in the top grade bracket was up from 10 per cent to 18 per cent. And 98 per cent of students got A* to E grades, the same as last year.

At Banbury Academy students gathered to celebrate their results at the Ruskin Road campus, where pass rates were at a record high.

Out of 102 students, 20 per cent achieved an A* to A grade, 40 per cent scored A* to B, and a total of 99 per cent passed with A* to E grades.

Principal Pravahi Osman said: “I am really proud.”