An agonising wait will finally come to an end for hundreds of A-Level students across Oxfordshire today (August 19) when they receive their A-level results.

Schools were still processing the results yesterday but early indications suggest the county's results reflect an improved pass rate nationally with a slight increase in the number achieving A grades.

The proportion of candidates passing at grades A to E nationally has risen by more than one per cent, bringing the overall pass rate to 96 per cent.

The number achieving A grades nationally has increased by 0.8 per cent to 22.4 per cent. One of the youngest candidates in Oxfordshire expecting an exam result today was 12-year-old Rahul Bali, of Benmead Road, Kidlington, who has taken an AS in maths.

Last year, the Gosford Hill School pupil was one of the youngest candidates in the county to get an A grade in GCSE maths.

Matthew Arnold School in Oxford recorded its best ever set of A-Level results this year with a 98 per cent pass rate at grades A to E and 50 per cent of its 160 candidates achieving A and B grades.

Headteacher Adrian Percival said: "This is undoubtedly the best ever set of A-Level results for the school.

"Since 1999 we have more than doubled the number of students studying A-Levels at Matthew Arnold and nearly doubled the numbers of students gaining A or B grades. This is a real tribute to the hard work of all of the students and their teachers."

Gosford Hill School in Kidlington reported an overall improvement in the pass rate of pupils.

Headteacher David Jones said: "It looks as if we are going to be very pleased with the overall pass rate. It is certainly better than last year with very few students going away with nothing."

Magdalen College School in Oxford is set to remain one of the best performing schools in Britain after achieving another set of record results. Almost half of students at the independent school scored three straight A grades and 93 per cent achieved grades A or B.

Richard Cairns, deputy headmaster, said: "This was a remarkably level-headed year group. They got on with their studies but never ignored all the important non-examined aspects of school life."

For a full round-up of Oxfordshire's A-Level results see tomorrow's Oxford Mail