A-Level Results Day

For hundreds of thousands of students across the UK, the hard work and long wait is finally over as today, they received their all-important A-Level results, and record numbers achieved the high marks needed to attend their desired Universities. Additionally, a record-breaking 424,000 students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, have already secured a place at various world-class universities across the UK as a result of their A-Level results, a 3% increase from last year, according to UCAS.

Although the proportion of A-Level students across the UK receiving the highest grades has fallen for a fifth year in a row, the overall pass rate this year was unchanged from 2015 and A-Level results still remain stable. The number of EU students placed at UK universities and colleges also reached a new high-record this year, rising to 26,800 – a surprising figure following on from the pre-Brexit rush for places.

Mathematics and English remain the most popular subjects among A-Level students, with a combined number of almost 177,000 students sitting exams in these subjects, closely followed by Biology, Psychology and History. The amount of students achieving a C grade or above in Mathematics has slightly increased from last year, although these grades are still lower than those achieved by students between the years of 2010 and 2014. Additionally, although pass level English results have shown no change from last year, the amount of students achieving A*, A and B grades in this subject has fallen in comparison to last year’s results. Overall, the proportion of A-Level studets achieving an A or A* grade in their subjects has fallen from 2015, however this has only decreased by 0.1%, so standards are still high.

Results show that male candidates performed better at the top end, gaining more A*s than female candidates (8.5% of male A-Level entries gain an A*s, compared to just 7.7% of female participants). However, female candidates get a higher proportion of As, Bs and Cs. Male candidates recieved higher numbers of As and A*s than female candidates in subjects including German (+3.4%), French (+2.9%) and Maths (+2%), while female candidates did significantly better than their male peers in P.E (12.5%) and Geography (+9.6%).

One school that did particularly well this year was Crawley’s Hazelwick School – a state-funded academy that has received its highest grades to date. Almost one in four (24%) of all grades were A or A*, while nearly half (48%) of these grades were between A* and B, and 77% were between A* and C grades. 20 of Hazelwick’s students achieved thee or more straight A/A* grades and, as a record for the school, 27 students achieved at least one of the highly desired A* grades. Two of these students gained A*A*A* grades and one student pushed even further with an outstanding A*A*A*A*. As a result of these exceptional results, 5 of Hazelwick’s top-achieving students have achieved places at Oxford and Cambridge University, while four others have been accepted for Medicine at other Russell Group Universities. Ann Fearon, Hazelwick School’s Principal commented: “Hazelwick is delighted to have maintained its strong position in academic subjects at A-Level with another set of excellent results. We are immensely proud of all our students’ performance. This excellent year group showed great engagement and commitment throughout their time at Hazelwick and they fully deserve their success.”

Commenting on the overall achievements students recieved as Minister of State School Standards, Nick Gibb said: “Congratulations to everyone collecting their results today, which are the culmination of years of hard work by students and teachers. I wish everyone getting their results success as they embark on the next stage of their lives. With a growing jobs market, the choice of high quality apprenticeships, university or college place on offer, I’m confident that with hard work and commitment, whatever option they pursue they will go on to fulfil their potential.”

(More information to come)