Happy Hartlepool students look forward to glittering futures after opening A-level results

Friends hugged each other with joy and relief on receiving their grades at the college early on Tuesday morning (August 10).

For the second successive year, students did not sit traditional exams with grades assessed by their teachers.

Many students are now going on to university and apprenticeships.

Around half of Hartlepool Sixth Form’s results fell in the higher grades of A*-B for A-levels and Distinction star to Distinction for vocational BTEC courses.

Head Mark Hughes said: “We had a real robust process to make sure the grades given is a true reflection of what they should achieve.

"I think we have done that really well and it’s evident with the students celebrating their achievements today.”

Due to lockdowns the college experienced disruption to about two and a half terms worth of teaching.

Mr Hughes added: “They’ve had some serious disruption to their educational careers. They’ve really had to overcome that and be flexible and resilient over the last two years and what they’ve achieved is remarkable.”

Theo Corbett, 18, said the hard work paid off after getting three A* in politics, law and economics.

He is off to University College London to study law and may become a barrister.

Daniel Harker, 18, is on course to become a chemical engineer after getting A* in maths, and As in physics and chemistry.

He is to take up a degree apprenticeship with a renewable engineering firm in Hull and study at Glasgow University.

Daniel, from Clavering, said: “We did internal exams so it was a similar format to what I would have sat in the exam hall.”

Ellie Mullender, 18, from Seaton Carew, will study forensic psychology after getting a B in A-level criminology and C in sociology, plus a Distinction Star in BTEC applied science.

She said: "I kind of doubted myself but was very happy when I saw I got what I needed to get into uni.”

Mollie Sheehan, 18, of Dyke House was celebrating a Distinction Star and two distinctions in BTEC health and social care.

"I was shocked and over the moon,” she said.

Mollie will go on to study physiotherapy at Northumbria University.

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