A level results: Chichester College welcomes Government U-turn

A level students will now be given the grades which were estimated by their lecturers – although the small minority of students who received a higher grade than that predicted will be able to keep their grade.

Shelagh Legrave OBE, chief executive at Chichester College Group, said: “We are extremely relieved by this decision, which means students will now receive the grades they so deserved after two years of hard work, determination and dedication.

“Although – as a group – we maintained an excellent set of results overall, we know many of our students at both Chichester College and Worthing College were downgraded by the Ofqual algorithm and given grades that we did not feel accurately reflected their performance.

“So, this is a fantastic result for them and for all of our students. However, it is disappointing that the decision to reverse this has taken so long and could still cost some students their places at their first choice universities. We are supporting students and our teams will continue to do so over the coming weeks.”

The change in policy means both Chichester and Worthing Colleges’ overall pass rates are now 100 per cent. The number of high grades (A*-B) are 71 per cent for Chichester College and 61.59 per cent for Worthing College.

Vittoria Hambleton, 18, received an A, A* and D last Thursday. Her results were unchanged.

She said: “I’m very happy. I was expecting to come in with a D and two Bs and so getting an A* and an A I’m very over the moon with.”

Deividas Vaitulevicius, 18, collected his Btec results. He said: “I got a triple D* from biomedical science at Chichester College.

“I’m going to start at Portsmouth University from September and I will be doing biomedical science again for the next four years so I’m hoping that is going to go well as well.

“I was really nervous today. I did not expect that was actually going to happen.

“It has been quite hard and really hard to focus at home.”

Speaking last Thursday, Helen Loftus, interim principal at Chichester College, said: “We are incredibly proud of all our students, who have worked hard to achieve their grades. This year has been highly unusual and I think it’s important to recognise the effort and determination they have shown to their studies. We should also acknowledge the dedication shown by their lecturers during exceptionally difficult circumstances.

“They have gone above and beyond to support their students, the vast majority of whom will be able to progress to the next stage of their educational journey with confidence.”