THE Principal of a Basingstoke college has paid tribute to her students after a hotly-anticipated A-Level results days.

Students up and down the country woke up this morning to their grades, which showed whether or not they had made it to their chosen University or other path.

With the stress of a pandemic and not being able to sit their final exams on which their grades are usually based, the Principal of Queen Mary's College, Ali Foss, has paid tribute to the hard work of the cohort.

Speaking to The Gazette, Ms Foss said: "It's a lovely day today.

"It's strange a bit of a subdued occasion compared to our usual results day but for all of these young people, they’ve worked really hard and they’re going to where they planned to go. It’s sad not to be celebrating with them all today."

A number of pupils attended the college to collect their grades, whilst others received them electronically.

And despite reports that results would be massively downgraded by exam regulator Ofqual, Ms Foss says that the grades for this cohort are "pretty much the same" as 2019.

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"High grades are slightly up but that's because we've got a slightly more able cohort so that's what we'd expect," she continued.

"There are some anomalies which we will contest, which are statistical, but they are small in number."

She added that she wanted the appeal process to "move as quickly as they possible can".

"It's really important for those people.

"If colleges are saying 'this is unfair', [Ofqual] should be accepting that.

"We know our students really well, we have very large cohorts that are very stable, so I don't know why they couldn't just rely on centre-assessed grades.

"I get the need for modelling but it has thrown up some quirks, undoubtedly."

Ofqual figures show that 39.1 per cent of teacher assessments submitted across England were lowered by at least one grade, whilst just 2.2 per cent were upgraded.

Are you celebrating great exam results? Let us know by getting in touch! Email ryan.evans@basingstokegazette.co.uk or call 07701 313302.