'Education gives you choices': Students, parents and teachers in Leeds celebrate on A-Level results day

Students, parents and teachers across Leeds are celebrating after another successful A-Level results day.

Thousands of teenagers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland nervously received their exam results today (Thursday, August 13), with many finding out if they would progress to their chosen university, an apprenticeship or work.

The long-awaited day is the culmination of years of hard work and determination and marks the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of the city’s young people.

Here at the Yorkshire Evening Post, we went down to Leeds Mathematics School, one of the country’s only specialist maths sixth forms, to experience the excitement and nerves of A-Level results day first hand.

“It’s so wonderful being here today, with students, picking up their results,” Principal Robert Wilne said. “What’s amazing is the grades, yeah, but it’s actually what they go and do with them.

“A-Levels are gateways to destinations and what I’m really excited about is what they are going to do next. They are an incredible year group and I’m absolutely sure that some of them are going to be household names of scientific breakthroughs and amazing discoveries.”

“Education gives you choices and I absolutely believe that that is what they are leaving here today with. I really hope they will go from here and that ultimately they will do well in their lives, but also do good through the knowledge that they’ve got.”

Other schools across Leeds, including Temple Moor High School, Benton Park School and Abbey Grange CofE Academy, are also celebrating outstanding results today.

In West Yorkshire, Wakefield topped the list of A-level entries receiving grades of A or A* with 28.9 per cent, closely followed by Leeds with 27.5 per cent of the city’s entries receiving the highest grades, according to data published by Ofqual.

Across Yorkshire & Humber, figures show that the percentage of A-Level students being awarded top grades this year was 7.9 per cent. Up from 7.7 per cent last year and 6.5 per cent in 2019.

At Leeds Mathematics School, which is a partnership between The Gorse Academies Trust and the University of Leeds, a quarter of students achieved two or more A* grades - and 61 per cent of all grades were A* or A.

12 have been offered a place at Durham University, 10 have scooped spots at the University of Leeds, and eight more students are on their way to either Oxford or Cambridge.

“I went to school 9-5 then I went home and pretty much just revised from 5-11,” said Ryan Josephs, who is off to study astrophysics at Durham University. “I just sat down, did papers and it got to the point where I actually started enjoying doing papers.”

Jacob Jones, who will be studying Computer Science at Durham, said: “It’s took a lot of work, especially those last few months before the exams I was pretty much revising any free time that I had. It felt like a really long wait, between the exams and results day, but I’m glad that we’ve got them now.”

“It’s a lot of hard work, homework at weekends and just re-revising all the information,” Rebecca Taylor, who scooped a very impressive four A*s, added. “The teachers have been amazing. They've made everything we needed for our revision and put so much work in.”

Nationally, the proportion of A-Level entries awarded top grades has risen for the third year in a row, while Maths has remained the most popular subject - the 13th year in a row it has topped the table.

UCAS has reported that a record number of UK 18-year-olds have been accepted into university this year, with the steepest growth being in acceptances to what it calls “higher tariff” universities - the most selective institutions, like those in the Russell Group.

If your results were not quite as you hoped then there are many options still available so don’t panic. One such option is clearing: the process by which students can still get themselves onto a great university course at short notice.