Pictures as Isle of Man students celebrate A-Level joy

Hundreds of students across the Isle of Man have been celebrating their A-level results, with provisional figures showing 99% achieved an A*-E pass or equivalent in Level 3 qualifications.

Results released on Thursday, August 13, also show 80% of students across the island’s secondary schools achieved A*-C grades, while 51% secured A*-B.

At University College Isle of Man (UCM), 78% of students successfully passed their Level 3 qualifications, most of which are equivalent to three A-levels, while 75% achieved either a Merit or Distinction.

Among those celebrating were friends Abigail Moore and Eugenie Woodhead, who expressed their relief after receiving their results and are now looking forward to further study.

Abigail plans to study Ecological Environmental Science at the University of Edinburgh, while Eugenie will study Maths in Bristol from September.

There were also celebrations at Ballakermeen High School’s Sixth Form Centre, where students were joined by proud parents, teachers and friends.

Among them were Aleks Petrov and Martin Cheung.

Aleks, who achieved four A*s and will study Medicine at Queen’s University Belfast, said: ‘I’m feeling very happy. Happier than I expected to be, honestly.’

Martin achieved two A*s and an A and plans to study MORSE, a combination of Maths, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics.

But one Ballakermeen student receiving an A-level result was several years younger than most of those around him.

Thirteen-year-old Kenneth Brown secured an A in Physics - his third A-level before he has even started studying for his GCSEs.

Kenneth achieved his first A-level in Maths when he was just 11, gaining an A*, before securing another A* in Further Maths the following year.

He will return to school in September to begin studying for his GCSEs alongside students his own age, already having three A-levels under his belt.

Kenneth said: ‘Well, I’m a little bit younger than everybody else. I’m 13.’

Physics is his favourite subject and, speaking about his result, he added: ‘I knew I was either going to get that or a little bit higher.’

Ballakermeen headteacher Graeme Corrin said the results reflected the effort put in by students.

He said: ‘It’s been really nice to see the reward for hard work. That’s the common theme, really, that pulls all of these students together.

‘Yes, they’re bright, yes, they’re wonderful, but they are working really, really hard to get the results that they’ve got this morning.’

Head of Sixth Form Richard Karran echoed that praise, saying it was particularly rewarding to see students receive their grades in the same place where they had put in so much work.

He said: ‘It’s really cool to see the students getting the results in the room where the majority of the work happened for them.

‘It’s rewards for those dark nights in December when they’re here until 6pm and coming in, some of them, at 7.15am, 7.30am on rainy days, and then suddenly on a sunny day like this they get their results.

‘It’s just a really nice kind of ending to a positive story.’