Ready for the future – students celebrate exam success

Our students have been celebrating some fantastic A level, vocational and GCSE results.

Learners across the country faced an extra challenge this year as grading returned to tougher, pre-pandemic levels.

On top of that, many had to take their final tests without having had any experience of sitting a national exam.

Despite those obstacles, plenty of our students still had cause to cheer when they discovered their grades.

Practice makes perfect for university-bound Efe

Efe Emenuwe, for example, excelled at her A levels, gaining two A*s and an A in Politics, Sociology and History respectively. She is now looking to a gap year before heading to the University of Manchester to study law.

Speaking to a visiting BBC News crew on Level 3 results day (Thursday 17 August ), Efe touched upon the unusual circumstances leading up to her exams.

She said: “It’s been weird but after the first exam I got used to the flow of it and the idea of sitting A levels.

“And besides, with the mocks and testing we had and all of that…I guess practice makes perfect!”

Zuhal sets her sights on Oxford

Zuhal Akhundzada, meanwhile, is a step closer to fulfilling her dream of studying medicine at the University of Oxford after achieving the GCSE grades she needed.

Zuhal, who enjoyed her time on the college’s Step-Up Pathway, got high – 6 and 7 – grades in Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

She said: “I’m so happy. I tried so much and did lots of studying and got the results I wanted, so from this September I will be starting A levels in three sciences.

“I’m from Afghanistan and I’ve only been in the UK for less than two years, so English was a bit hard for me, but the sciences were fantastic.”

She also credited her teachers for their support: “The tutors helped us get these results.”