A-Level Results Day 2023: Live updates as students in Downham Market, Fakenham, King’s Lynn and Swaffham find out grades

Hundreds of students across West Norfolk have today discovered their A-Level results, which will open the gateway for university or their chosen career.

Students at Downham Market Academy, Fakenham Academy, Swaffham’s Nicholas Hamond Academy and King Edward VII Academy, Springwood High School and The College of West Anglia in Lynn all get their results today.

National reports have suggested students should prepare themselves for lower grades this year and increased competition for university places.

Education secretary Gillian Keegan has said results will be similar to those before the Covid-19 pandemic.

It comes after Covid led to an increase in top A-level grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.

There were smiles on dozens of faces as students from Fakenham Sixth Form picked up their A-Level results.

The sixth form, which is part of Fakenham Academy on Field Lane, welcomed its Year 13s back to discover their grades on Thursday.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Fakenham Sixth Form said: “Yay! A-Level results day produced lots of smiles. We are incredibly proud of our students. Well done all.”

Meanwhile, Fakenham Academy added: “We’re so proud of our A-Level students. A huge congratulations to our #determined #ambitious cohort who are off to great things. We’ll miss you.”

And Sapientia Education Trust, which Fakenham is a part of, said it was “immensely proud”.

Students at the College of West Anglia in Lynn celebrated receiving their A-level results, alongside friends, family, and staff.

This year, 63% of A-level students achieved grades A*-C, with an overall pass rate of 95% (grades A*-E) across all A-level programmes.

CWA vice principal curriculum and quality Kerry Heathcote said: “I am pleased that the efforts and hard work which has been shown by our students and teaching staff have been rewarded with strong grades across A-level, T-Level and vocational subjects.”

At Lynn's Springwood High School, a fifth of sixth form students gained an A* or A grade, and two-fifths achieved A* to B grades.

A total of 21% of its students achieved the equivalent of one A or A* and two Bs to win the accolade of Norfolk Scholar.

Several students securing places at prestigious universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Manchester and Durham, with Merissa Lawrence becoming one of only two students nationally from the state sector to win a scholarship to Harvard in the USA, thanks to her A*AA grades.

She will read Maths and Economics at the famous Ivy League college.

Meanwhile, King Edward VII (KES) Academy Sixth Form in Lynn is celebrating a great set of A-Level results with 70% of all grades at A*-C.

These results mean that this is the fifth successive year that 100% of students achieved a place at university, an apprenticeship or full-time employment.

Principal Sarah Hartshorn said: ”What an incredible achievement by our Year 13s. It’s been quite a year for our 2022-23 cohort, with Oxbridge university offers, eight semi-professional football contracts signed, and another consecutive year of 100% of our students going on to further education, apprenticeships, or employment.

”No matter what our graduates’ futures hold, once you are a student at King Edward VII Academy, you are a part of our community for life. We can’t wait to see what they will go on to achieve.”

Each year, an exceptional student from KES is selected for the prestigious Gold Medal Award received from the King in an in-person awards ceremony. This year’s winner is Alina Ahsan.

Alina’s academic ability and excellent work ethic are outstanding and have led to her achieving A*AA grades. Alina’s passion for the sciences is ingrained in her daily life and aspirations for the future.

She will continue to follow her love of science as she seeks to pursue a career as a doctor, having achieved a place at Oxford University to study medicine.

Students at Downham Market Academy’s Athena Sixth Form College are also celebrating their successes after receiving their A-Level results today.

Officials at Athena said they are “incredibly proud of their tenacity and ambition to do well”, and share their excitement as they move on to the next stage of their lives.

George Pettitt, deputy head teacher and leader of Athena, said: “We sometimes forget that these are the first set of real exams that these students will have completed as their GCSEs were disrupted by Covid.

“To have been this successful is testament to all their hard work and dedication.”