A-Level results day is upon us once again, as thousands of Gloucestershire students find out if their hard work has paid off. Many will also be discovering if they've been accepted into university or college, in spite of a slight dip in applications, with many students now favouring apprenticeships and employment.

University entry rates are at an all-time high nationally, and there are 30,000 university places available through Clearing for students who didn't get the university place they wanted. Students finding themselves in this situation should not be disheartened, as 1 in 8 university students are accepted through Clearing, according to UCAS.

There has been much speculation regarding the results of this year's A-Level exams, following the changes made to courses that put greater emphasis on final exams rather than coursework completed throughout the year.

Government changes have ostensibly paid off for Gloucestershire schools, with over 1 in 4 A-Levels graded at an A or A*, the two highest grades possible. For example, Gloucester's High School for Girls have welcomed an improvement on 2017's results, with 86% achieving A*-C grades; and Cheltenham's Bournside are also celebrating, with a 1% increase in pass rate from 2017. However, the overall pass rate has seen a 0.3% decline from 2017 on a national scale, resulting in the lowest pass rate since 2010, according to the Press Association.

On the other hand, pupils from local private school Wycliffe College are celebrating one of the school's best A*-B grade proportions ever. Some examples of destinations for their sixth form leavers include Oxford to study PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics), University College London to study Mechanical Engineering, and Loughborough to study Architecture.

Perhaps most refreshingly, girl power is largely responsible for Wycliffe's success in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths), with female students representing two thirds of the school's A*-A grades.

For example, Annie Rees (pictured), from Stonehouse, graduated from Wycliffe with two A* and two A grades in Maths, Chemistry, Physics, and Further Maths; she will be heading to Imperial to study Medicine.

The Head of Wycliffe College, Nick Gregory, has said, "as always, we are very proud of every single one of them"; he highlights how "the sheer breadth and variety of the Wycliffe curriculum is intended to [...] enable them to take their next steps, about which they are hugely excited".

Good luck to all Gloucestershire students getting their results today, and in their future endeavours.