THOUSANDS of Hampshire students have been celebrating their success after receiving their A level results following some of the most challenging 18 months.

College and sixth form students across the county have been jumping with joy after finding out their A Level results.

This has come as a welcome relief to many students, who spent most of the college years working remotely from home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Peter Symonds College student Milosz Kowalski has extra reason to celebrate as he was offered a place on the course of his dreams.

Daily Echo: Milosz Kowalski, Peter Symonds College student.

Milosz, who formerly attended Bitterne Park School, has been offered a place on the Human Social and Political Sciences course at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

He said: “As someone from a working-class, migrant background, it was sometimes difficult to see myself at Cambridge, but the supportive atmosphere at Symonds made me feel that truly anyone can succeed. The HE+ programme inspired me to go beyond the curriculum, a key aspect of my Cambridge application, while being surrounded by ambitious peers kept me motivated and engaged.

"Working hard during the pandemic was difficult, but having such a wonderful final goal in sight was extremely helpful.”

At Peter Symonds College, a total of 86 per cent of grades were A* to C, and 68 per cent were A* to B grade.

At The Arnewood School in New Milton, there were some stand-out performers including Kit Narito who received three A* grades and is to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Southampton.

Daily Echo: Maths students Maddie Gwilliam, Sam Fulton, Ben Pang, Kit Narito and Matilda Gleave from The Arnewood School.

Maddie Gwilliam (A*AA) is off to Newcastle to read Maths and Finance and Matilda Gleave (A*A*A*) will read Modern Languages at Warwick University.

Dan Rogers, who studied at Bitterne Park Sixth Form, achieved Geography A*, Economics A* and Chemistry B. Dan is now off to study Geography at University of Southampton.

The sixth form saw a total of 39 per cent of A Level students achieved A*- A grades and over 69 per cent achieved A*- B grades.

Itchen College students have achieved a 100 per cent pass rate for A levels and have seen an increase in students achieving the highest grades with 67 per cent of students achieving A* to B and 91 per cent achieving a grade between A* and C.

Daily Echo: Brockenhurst College students Finley Watton, Tom Winfield, Yasmin Hammad, Vanda Czene, and Daniel R Gouveia Javeed

More than 500 A Level students at Brockenhurst College received their results today with the overall pass rate at 99 per cent.

The percentage of students achieving A*-B grades was 56 per cent, with over 78 per cent achieving A*-C grades across all their subjects.

Richard Taunton Sixth Form College saw at 98 per cent pass rate and a 99 per cent vocational pas rate.

Nationally, more than two in five of UK entries were awarded an A or A* grade this summer – up by 6.3 percentage points on last year when 38.5 per cent achieved the top grades.

Overall, the proportion of entries awarded the top A* grade this year has surged to 19.1 per cent – the highest proportion since the top grade was first introduced in 2010.

The UK adopted a system of awarding grades this summer based on teacher based assessment.

Teachers in England have been required to consider a range of evidence, including mock exams, coursework, and in-class assessments using questions by exam boards, to make decisions on pupils’ grades.

Headteachers had to submit a personal declaration that they believed grades to be accurate.

Schools and colleges were asked to provide samples of student work to exam boards, as well as evidence used to determine the grades for the students selected, as part of quality assurance (QA) checks.

Random and targeted sample checks of evidence were also carried out after grades were submitted.

In some cases, where the evidence did not support the grades submitted, schools and colleges have been asked to review their grades.