Shropshire students receive A-Level results
Students from across Shropshire are today receiving their A-Level results and discovering if they have worked hard enough to achieve the required grades to guarantee a firm acceptance offer from the University of their choice.
Students were this morning collecting their results from colleges including: New College Telford, Shrewsbury Sixth Form, Ludlow College and Walford & North Shropshire College.
Shrewsbury Sixth Form College has revealed more than half (52%) their students are today receiving grates A*-B with pass rates at 98.5%.
Walford and North Shropshire College is celebrating a 99% pass rate with 23 subjects achieving 100% pass rates.
Abraham Darby Academy students are enjoying A Level success for the first time in the Academy’s new sixth form facility. This has been the first cohort of students to study up to the age of 18 at the Academy and many of these are now looking forward to going off to university.
At New College, 1240 students are receiving A Level and AS results today with the A2 pass rate over 98% and over 64% of students achieving grades A*-C.
Both Newport grammar schools enjoyed considerable success with Newport Girls High having a 100 per cent pass rate. The percentage of students achieving the higher grades has improved to around 80 per cent at both of these schools.
Students at Blessed Robert Johnson Catholic College have been enjoying success, with more students passing their A Levels than last year. Individual successes at Blessed Robert Johnson include Amy Jones who achieved 4 top A-grades and is pleased to be going to York University to study Biochemistry.
Telford & Wrekin Councillor Paul Watling, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “I would like to congratulate all the students, parents, teachers and school governors on an excellent set of A-Level results.
“Finding out the results is always a difficult time but I am delighted that so many young people across the borough will now be looking forward to a bright future and a university place.”
Shropshire Councillor Aggie Caesar-Homden, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for education and skills, has offered her congratulations to students getting their A-level results today:
“This year marks the second year of the A* grade at A level. Early indications are that overall Shropshire’s results are again good and that it looks like being another very successful year.
“We would like to congratulate all the students for their hard work, and appreciate how much they have had to do to achieve their results.
“We would also like to thank everyone who plays a part in our school and college communities across Shropshire. This includes our hugely skilled and committed teachers, headteachers & college principals, governors, support staff, people who contribute voluntarily and, of course, parents and carers who play such an important supportive role.
“We wish all the students receiving their results today every success in the future, including those going through the particularly difficult university application process.”
A quarter of a million A-level candidates across the country will receive their results today amid some indications that private schools may have widened the gap with state schools.
The competition for university places this year will be at an all-time high as the number of students being awarded an A* grade is set to rise whilst the overall A-grade pass rate is expected to hit a new record high of 27.5% (0.5%) up from last year.
At the same time, the anxiety of many perspective students will not be eased by the fact that the number of students deferring and taking a gap year has fallen from 47,000 last year to around 30,000 this year as the rush for admissions intensifies ahead of the hike in university fees later next year, the average degree cost will rise from £3,290 to as much as £9,000 a year.
The grim outlook is further compounded by the fact that record numbers of students will be turned away as universities toughen up their admissions process – demanding a minimum of an A* grade - to avoid over-recruiting for places as demand is expected to soar to a record high of around 707,000 across Britain.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service was this morning braced for its busiest ever day, with an estimated 220,000 students competing for around 40,000 places through the clearing system.
Around 210,000 candidates lost out on a place at university last year.
