Students across the south look to future after opening results

Students across the south are figuring out their next steps after opening their exam results.

It’s been a big day for college and sixth form students across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

The 18-year-olds have received their A-level, T-level and BTec National results and are now looking to the future.

It comes after the head of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) predicted a record number of students would get their first choice of university.

Those attending Bournemouth School for Girls were allowed into their classroom at 08:00 BST, after queuing patiently outside the building.

Around 10% of this year’s cohort are taking a different route to university, instead choosing to do an apprenticeship or take a gap year.

Faith Cornish has decided to get a job as a primary school teaching assistant, before looking at higher education options.

“I’m going to a different classroom,” she said, explaining it had been “a rough two years”.

“I’ve really struggled at school. I want to be able to help children who are a bit different.”

Meanwhile her friend Orelia Baker is off to Queens University Belfast to study medicine and wants to specialise in sexual and womens’ health, she said: “It’s a field I’ve always been interested in and so important.”

In Hampshire, students at Arnewood Sixth Form, New Milton were celebrating.

A school spokesperson said 84% of students secured places at their first-choice university, or higher education destination.

Head of sixth form, Mark Colman, said: “These results reflect more than just academic success. Our students leave Arnewood as confident, compassionate young people ready to make their mark.

“The impact our Year 12 and 13s have across the wider school is something we’re hugely proud of.”

Reading College said 28% of its students gained an A* or A grade in their A levels, but a lot of students were pursuing different choices.

Faculty director, Dan Neil, said: “We are seeing a higher proportion of learners going onto apprenticeships.

“Our own apprenticeship faculty is really valuable, sometimes students needs a bit of a break. I have some students today who are deferring their university places to go travelling for a year.”

Tawana Mandebvu, 19, said she is heading to Oxford Brookes University to study midwifery.

“It feels like all the hard work paid off. I’m happy I studied as much as I did and put in all my efforts. Hard efforts pay off,” she explained.

Data from Ofqual revealed the percentage of A level entries graded A or A* across each county in comparison to 2024.

Subjects with grades awarded to more than 2,500 students were the only ones to be included in the data.

In Hampshire, 29.4% of grades awarded were an A or A*, compared to 28.8% last year.

The Isle of Wight had a slightly bigger increase, with 2025 figures showing 17.6% compared to last year’s 15.9%. However, it still has the lowest figure in England.

In Dorset, the number dropped to 24.8% after reaching 27.1% in 2024.

Meanwhile, Oxfordshire figures remained steady at 33.5%, compared to 33.4% last year.

Berkshire figures showed a slight increase of 32.7% in 2025, compared to 31.3% the previous year.

The Isle of Wight may have the lowest percentage of A* and A grades for A levels, but students at Cowes Sixth Form College achieved high scores.

Alfie Glover secured a place studying engineering at the University of Cambridge, after achieving three A*s and one A.

Meanwhile Blake Poerscout-Edgerton achieved three A*s, one A and gained an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), securing himself a scholarship at Emory University in Atlanta, USA.

Principal Rachel Kitley said: “We are incredibly proud of the achievements of our sixth form students, they have worked hard and today celebrate their much-deserved success.”

There were lots of happy faces at Bartholomew School in Witney, Oxfordshire, after students gained top grades.

Director of sixth form, Helen von der Osten said: “We are delighted these results have enabled so many to secure their university places, apprenticeships, and other exciting next steps.”

Twins Florence and Alice Bolton were home schooled until they joined Headington Rye Oxford for sixth form.

They are both now headed to the University of Cambridge, Florence to study Anglo Saxon, Norse and Celtic at St John’s College and Alice to study music at Emmanuel College.

Florence said: “I have really enjoyed my time here – I loved home education too so I feel like I have had the best of both worlds.”

Alice added: “We would have never been able to come to the school if we didn’t have the generous bursaries that we got. It’s meant we have had a very happy time the last two years.”