Students celebrate as A-level results are announced

STUDENTS across Powys are celebrating success in their A-level exams.

The county's overall pass rate, at grades A* to E, is 97.5%, with 18.3% of passes at the very highest A* or A grades. The overall pass rate across Wales is 97.3%, with 22.7% of students gaining the top A* and A grades.More than a quarter of A-level passes at Brecon High School were at the top A* and A grades.The Powys result at grades A* to C, for exams taken with the WJEC exam board, is 76.3% which is 2.5% higher than the 73.8% all Wales figure for exams taken with all exam boards.More than a quarter of A-level passes at Brecon High School were at the top A* and A grades.Headteacher Rob Broadbridge said 27% of passes were at the top two grades while the school had improved its overall pass rate to 100%.He said many students came to the school this morning already aware of their university fate."They get an email telling them if they've got their university place or not but they do not know their grades so some are very relaxed," said Mr Broadbridge."There has been a very positive atmosphere and lots of happy people around."The school has also been helping students who haven't gained their first choice places."Those students who perhaps have not got their first choice places, the results they have achieved will still create opportunities for them to continue to university. They can still be proud of their work and they now need to do a little more work to secure their place," said the head.At Brecon High 72% of pupils achieved the benchmark figure of three passes at grades A* to C and all students achieved the full Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate qualification.Three students at Brecon High, Llyr Davies, Emily Collins-Owen and Jac Powell, achieved three A* or A grades. Llyr scored top marks in geography, maths and history, Emily in English literature, history and the Welsh Bacc and Jac in business studies, BTEC Sport and the Welsh Bacc.Brother and sister Laurel and Oscar Carrington achieved an amazing eight top A-levels between them at Builth Wells High School.The siblings achieved four As, three Bs and one A star grade.Builth Wells High School headteacher Ionwen Spowage said the school had improved its overall pass rate by 4.1% on last year's figure to 98% while an impressive 34% of pupils gained the very best A* or A grades, a 2.5% improvement on last year.Top performers included Hannah Beetham with four As, Codi Palladini with two A*, one A and one B, James Hale who gained two A* and an A and James Crompton who gained one A* and three As.Ms Spowage said: "We are thrilled with the outstanding success of our students' A-levels results. We are pleased to see nearly all of our students achieving their first choice places at a wide range of universities including Bristol, Cardiff and Manchester among others. "These results demonstrate that the school is providing high quality education to students in the Builth Wells area and more importantly, that students feel challenged and supported to achieve their very best."Four students were celebrating a clutch of A* and A grades at Llandrindod High School.Kirsten Richie gained three A* and an A, Kathryn Brown achieved one A* and two As and Hannh Gibson-Lapper had one A* and two As while Ben Coombs was the top boy with three A grades and one B.The school's A to B pass rate was 60% while the Welsh Bacc had a 100% pass rate at A* to B.Sally Sepeedy the headteacher at Ysgol Maesydderwen in Ystradgynlais said all its students who want to study at university have secured a place.She said: "It is always a pleasure to see our hard working students achieve success and we wish them all the best for the future. We are very much looking forward to the launch of our expanding post-16 provision with students being able to access a broad range of courses with us."Students pictured celebrating at the school are Abigail Piddington, Katie Morgan, Shelby Bateman, Ellie Carroll, Elliot Morris, James Moore, Jack Donnelly, Leon Kerswell and David Griffiths.At Crickhowell High School 42% of passes were at the A* or A grade and the school again hit the 100% overall pass rate, as it had last year.Among the top performers were Caitlin Smith and Marla King. Caitlin picked up four A* grades and has won a place at Downing College, Cambridge to read English.Marla scored three A* and an A and is heading to Leeds to study at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Classmate Lowri Probert hopes to peruse a career as an opera singer and will train at the Royal Northern College of Music.Rhiannon Hucker is embarking on the lengthy journey to become a fully qualified vet at the Royal Veterinary College and Erin Hayward has won a place at Exeter University reading international relations.Headteacher Jackie Parker said: "It is a privilege to work with such wonderful students and to enable them to achieve such remarkable success in very challenging examinations. We are very proud of their academic excellence but equally we value their achievements as individuals and as very impressive young adults ready to take on the next important step in their lives. I have every confidence that they will go on to excel in whatever career they choose and make a very positive difference in society."Top performers at Gwernyfed High School included Scott Dunster who is going to Bristol University to read mechanical engineering, Eli Scruby who will study natural sciences at Bath, Roxie Horsley who's heading to Cardiff to study English, Lucy Williams will study business management at Gloucester, Sophie Bull who's going to Chester to study digital photography and management, Joe Bovington-Wood will study architecture at Liverpool, Rhian Ball will study geography at Exeter while Tom Lewis will study the same subject at Manchester. Bronnie Walkden will study nursing at Kings College London, Jack Tully aerospace engineering at Liverpool and Caitlin Pugh journalism at Cardiff.Over third of the grades achieved at the Three Cocks school were A* or A and over three quarters of the year group achieved at least three A* to C grades.There were also celebrations at the NPTC College campus in Brecon where students achieved success in A-level and Extended Diploma Qualification results. The college boasted a 99.1% overall pass rate. Among the 25% of pupils at Brecon's independent school Christ College achieving three As or better is Rosie Evans, from Cradoc, near Brecon.She gained three A* grades in French, Spanish and photography, and will be moving on to the University of Bath to study French and Spanish next year.The school had a 99% pass rate with 72% of all grades at A* to B.All candidates pursuing the Extended Project Qualification, which develops research, extended writing, planning and presentation skills, were awarded A* to B grades.Emma Taylor, head of Christ College, said: "A* grades in modern languages are notoriously difficult to get and for Rosie to be awarded two of them demonstrates not only natural linguistic talent but also consistent and committed hard work. "Rosie has other talents, too; she is an accomplished musician and dancer, and intends to pursue both ballet and music alongside her studies when she heads to university. As the fourth member of her high-achieving family to attend Christ College, Rosie has rounded off the Evans family’s contributions to the school in style."Councillor Arwel Jones, Powys council's cabinet member for education, said: "These are very good results clearly reflecting the dedication and hard work of pupils and teachers in all Powys schools."Our warm congratulations go to all the young people on their well-deserved achievements and to all those who have supported them throughout their school careers. We wish all the students every success for the future."The number of WJEC A-levels taken in Powys schools fell from 1,179 in 2015 to 1,013 in 2016, a drop of 14%.Welsh education secretary Kirsty Williams congratulated students on their success.The Brecon and Radnorshire AM said: "Today is about celebrating the success of our pupils. I want to congratulate everyone receiving their results and thank them for all their hard work. This is such an important day and I wish them all the best as they make important decisions about their next steps in life."We will be updating this story throughout the day.