Students across Greater Manchester who battled hospital visits and house fires were among the tens of thousands receiving their A Level and vocational technical qualification (VTQ) results on Thursday, August 13. Emotional scenes unfolded at colleges and sixth forms as pupils celebrated their achievements.
Young carer secures scholarship after house fire
At Aquinas College in Stockport, young carer Zanwer Afa achieved four A*s and secured a scholarship at Imperial College London, despite spending a month revising in temporary housing after a house fire. He told the Manchester Evening News: "First reaction was 'they weren't mine.' I honestly thought they got me mixed up with someone else. I couldn't believe I got four A*s. It's mind-boggling."
Afa added: "For me I think it was a bit tougher than most because I'm a young carer, and two months before exam season, my house actually set on fire, which is pretty bad. We moved into temporary housing for like a month, through it all I stayed in school till 7pm sometimes. I think all the 9ams - 7pms paid off in the end."
Friends support each other through hospital visits
Annie Stonehard and Anastasia Jade Bunka, also at Aquinas, celebrated despite Anastasia being in a bus crash a week before exams and both spending time in A&E. Anastasia said: "A week before my exams I was in a bus crash. So, in and out of hospital like Annie. A&E pretty much every week, there wasn't a month where one of us hadn't been in hospital. So, you just have to kind of get on with it, you can't be down, we kind of picked each other up at different points and just carried on."
At Rochdale Sixth Form College, Aymin Zair achieved A, A*, A in Biology, Chemistry and Maths and gained a place at the University of Manchester. She said: "I was so shocked because I thought I was going to get a B in Maths and Biology. I thought I wasn't going to get into my university, but today I checked my UCAS and I got into my first choice - University of Manchester."
Record year nationally
Nationally, A-level entries reached 900,000 for the first time, with 28.5% of UK entries awarded A or A* grades, up from 28.3% last year. Maths remained the most popular subject for the 13th consecutive year. Fraser Livesey from Pendleton Sixth Form achieved three A*s in Maths, Further Maths and Computer Science, plus an A in Economics, and is heading to the University of Manchester.
However, the north-south divide widened, with London seeing 32.7% of students awarded A or A* (up from 32.1% in 2025), while north-east England and the East Midlands had the joint lowest at 23.1%. At Holy Cross College in Bury, Ryan Pott achieved three A*s in Biology, Chemistry and Psychology and will study Biomedical Science at Lancaster University.
