THE WAIT is over for hundreds of students from Marlwood School in Alveston today as they collected their A-level results.

With results broadly in line with last year’s results, the school is celebrating the fact that more than a fifth of grades achieved being either A* or A, and almost half being between A* and B.

In total, 97 per cent of the A-level results achieved by Marlwood students were between A* and E, with 21 per cent getting A or above.

Among those celebrating their exam successes and looking forward to their educational futures was Thom Harris-Lee, who reached his target grades of A*AA, and is now all set to study natural sciences at University of Bath.

He said: “It is such a relief to finally have my grades. That feeling definitely outweighs the excitement, but I am sure it will sink in over the next few days and then I can get hyped over heading off to uni.”

Smashing her target grades of AAB to study biochemistry at University of Bristol, Sioned Heal’s A*A*A came as quite a surprise.

“Some of the exams were horrible, but they clearly went better than I could have expected,” she said.

“It’s so weird, I wasn’t expecting A*s at all. I am so excited to be heading to Bristol.”

Harry Law, who is heading to Warwick University to study maths after achieving an impressive A*A*A*A, including A* in maths and further maths, said that while he had aimed for the grades, he hadn’t necessarily been sure he would get them.

He said: “Opening the envelope and seeing I had my grades to go to Warwick has been a big relief. I was pretty confident I could do it but you never know what might happen and what you might get on exam day.

“It was a case of don’t think about what might happen later, just get the exam done and move onto the next one.”

Meanwhile, when you have the added pressure of applying for a competitive course like medicine, the expectation of A*A*A* can be daunting, as star pupil Jenny Roylance, who not only made her grades but is now off to study at Birmingham, found out.

“I hadn’t expected any offers from my application so the whole process has been unbelievable, a real rollercoaster,” she said.

“So to get five offers and get even better grades than I needed for my first choice is amazing.”

Marlwood headteacher James Pope said: “There are many successes amongst the results released today and we are delighted for all of those students who have been rewarded.

“This is testament to the hard work of students, staff and the support of parents and carers as well as the partnership developing between Marlwood and Castle School’s Sixth Forms within the Castle School Education Trust.

“We would like to wish all of our students the very best for the next stage of their education and careers."