THERE were celebrations at colleges and sixth forms across the city as students collected A Level results.

However, Worcestershire was below the national average of students passing their A-levels this year, as grade boundaries moved up after the pandemic.

Across the county, there were 7,265 grades awarded at grade C and above (73.8 per cent) which was lower than the average across England at 75.3 per cent.

Hundreds of thousands of students across the country received their A-level results on Thursday, August 17 in a year when ministers and the exams regulator in England aimed to return to pre-pandemic grading.

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Despite the fall in stats across the county, schools were positive and were keen to highlight the achievements of their students.

At Worcester Sixth Form College, Ashley Williams was celebrating a stellar four A*'s, which will be taking him to Oxford University to study engineering.

He said: "In all honesty, I was never really thinking about going to university until I came here. The staff have really helped and pushed me into achieving this.

"I am very excited to be going to Oxford."

Alfie Senior will also be going to study medicine at the University of Bristol.

He said: "It was amazing to get the call. All of the hard work put in felt so worth it."

College principal, Ed Senior, said: “I am incredibly proud of the achievements of all our students.

"As a cohort, they have suffered the effects of having to spend time in the formative years of their education learning remotely and, having not been able to sit GCSE exams, have risen to the challenge of completing A Level and Applied exams and assessments when being graded the same as students prior to the pandemic who didn’t face the challenge of COVID."

Bobby Riddell, head of school at King's Worcester, will read philosophy, politics and economics at Durham and senior scholar, Grace Miller, will study dentistry at the University of Bristol.

Ben Sears also achieved a Choral Scholarship in addition to his place to read Law at Cambridge University.

RGS Worcester had its largest-ever Year 13 group to date receiving their results.

John Pitt, headmaster, said: “I am so pleased that our students have achieved such excellent examination results and their chosen destinations.

"I know the pressure of these exams (as a parent and as Head this year) and particularly for this year's group who did not sit GCSEs because of the pandemic."

Worcester Sixth Form College had a pass rate of 97.6 per cent at A* to E, and the college achieved higher A*, A and B grades than in 2019.

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There were 103 A*s among 689 top grades, 45.7 per cent of the overall grades, with 71.3 per cent achieving A*-C grades.

King's Worcester saw a "record-breaking" 98 per cent of students achieving grades at A*-C.

Overall, 18 per cent, of all grades awarded were A*, 45 per cent of results secured were A*- A and 77 per cent were graded A*- B.

Gareth Doodes, headmaster, praised the students on their achievements.

He said: “Today has been a highly successful day for King’s and we are overjoyed to hear of the outstanding accomplishments of our Upper Sixth students, who persevered through years of disrupted study with unwavering determination and tenacity."

Christopher Whitehead Language College had an average grade of B, but 17 students achieved three A* distinction grades.

Ten out of 20 students achieved an A* grade in Maths and 74 per cent of students achieved A* to A in languages.