Aspirational students celebrate A-Level Results

East Sussex College students celebrate receiving their A-Level results today after a challenging year of lockdown and exam uncertainty.

Up and down the country, anxious students awaited their results after an unprecedented two years of study, anticipating whether it would be enough to take them on to their next steps, with Teacher Assessed Grades being the deciding factor for a second consecutive year. At East Sussex College, there were some outstanding results with students hard work in the face of adversity being rewarded across the three campuses in Eastbourne, Hastings and Lewes, with nearly three quarters of A-Level courses achieving a full 100% pass rate. These included challenging academic subjects, Biology, Computer Science, French, Philosophy and Physics. Furthermore, a fantastic 76% of these students achieved an A*-C grade.

“I’m really overjoyed,” said Lewes A-Level student, Maia Woolf, who achieved an incredible four A* grades in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Music. A bright future awaits the talented student, with Cambridge or Warwick University in her sights. Talking about studying during lockdown, Maia says, “It’s been really crazy and quite demotivating a lot of the time because of the COVID pandemic. I’m so thankful for the amazing effort all my teachers put in to make sure we could have the best education, but it has been really challenging to do so much online, especially in practical subjects. In fact, it was more meaningful this year, as it meant my tutors believed that I was working at that grade, even when I wasn’t quite sure that I was!

“We didn’t hear until earlier this year that exams were cancelled, and this did cause some concerns, as some students might have wished that they’d had more opportunity earlier on to focus on the mock exams. But it has been a really rigorous process. I think we’ve done more assessments in class, than had we sat actual exams, so I trust the process.”

The Lewes campus saw the best results for the college group, with a 99.2% pass rate. For Lewes student Anna Wilson, her grades enable her to progress to university and pursue a career in Nursing. Inspired to take this career path by the COVID pandemic, the talented student, who studied French, Biology and Chemistry, achieved an A, B and C respectively. “I’m feeling really good. I’m still so shocked! It’s what I was predicted, and what I needed to get into university, so I’m really pleased.

“At the beginning, it was hard to put everything into your exams, as we saw the first few terms as more just to see how your progress was going. Then, as soon as we had the first Lockdown, tutors said, you need to take these exams seriously and they became key assessment points. We knew that they would end up having a massive effect on our grades.

“East Sussex College has been really good in supporting us as we entered lockdown. It has been difficult, but everyone’s been in the same boat, which has made things a lot easier. I’m going to study Nursing at Southampton University. This pandemic has really helped me see that a lot of jobs are now quite vulnerable, but there is always such a need for health care workers, no matter what happens in our society.”

Also in Lewes, Nathan Newnham, who was a Student Council Rep during his time at ESC, achieved three A* grades in his subjects: Biology, Psychology and Law.

Success was also celebrated over in Eastbourne, where Accounting, Business and Maths student, William Jukes, achieved A* grades. Tigerlily Young was another high achiever, gaining three A* grades in English Language, English Literature and History.

Hastings students celebrating their results included Samantha Richards, Martha Sankey and James Stringfellow. Two had chosen the Humanities pathway (Samantha achieved an A* in Psychology, and Martha achieved A* grades in English Literature, Geography and History), while James achieved fantastic A* grades in Chemistry, Maths and Physics.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson identified it’s been a challenging year for this cohort, where Teacher Assessed Grades replaced sat exams. He commented, “While students are expected to receive better results than in previous years, it is very difficult to compare the experience students have been through this year. Next year, we hope to be returning to examinations.”

Furthermore, Ofqual has said that this year’s grading system is a much more accurate reflection of what students can achieve.

Rebecca Conroy, CEO & Principal of East Sussex College, said: “We are incredibly proud of all of our students, who are celebrating some fantastic results after an incredibly challenging two years. They have all demonstrated such resilience and determination, which is why they have gone on to succeed.”

At the time of writing, BTEC results were still to be announced. While university remains the main focus of progression for the majority of ESC students, apprenticeships are something more and more young people are considering. Penny Shearer, Business Development Co-ordinator of Sussex Skills Solutions, the apprenticeship arm of East Sussex College, explains why: “Students consider an apprenticeship as a viable alternative to going to university. They can stay at home and do a study programme, whilst working towards a degree. Working for a business while studying can send them in a different direction in terms of progression. We offer Level 4 apprenticeships which is equivalent to a Foundation Degree and we offer Level 5 Management apprenticeships too. It’s a viable alternative to university for a number of students."

Find out more about apprenticeships or contact East Sussex College to find out about Higher Education courses. Or, if you are thinking about A-Level courses starting this September, there is still time to apply. Places are limited. Please call 030 300 39699 or visit www.escg.ac.uk.

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Photos © Paul Manser Photography