Years of work were concluded today as students from across Ipswich collected their A Level results.
The students, who sat their exams from mid May through to the end of July, collected their A Level results ahead of going their separate ways in life.
Students at Copleston High School were in high spirits on Thursday morning.
One student, Joe Hullis, 18, said: "I was really nervous before collecting them but it is a massive relief now I have them. I am really pleased."
As part of the 'Covid era', the students who collected their results today had not sat exams for years until their A Levels came around, as they received their predicted grades for GCSEs.
Another student, Natalie Durrant, 18, said: "The exams were daunting, because the last time we had sat exams was Year Six SATs, but when you got in there, they were a lot less nerve-racking than what you had built them up to be."
Jemma Hughes, Jess Lewis-Clark and Alesha Senior, all performed really well at Copleston, receiving A's across the board, with Jemma gaining an A*.
Jemma will be going on to the University of Leeds to study politics and philosophy, Jess is going to do a dance degree at the University of Roehampton, and Alesha is studying medicine at the University of Nottingham.
They said: "We are going to miss the environment and also the teachers, but we won't miss waking up at six thirty or seven and coming to school for eight."
Just up the road at St Albans Catholic High School, there was extra delight, with student Ewan Kane, gaining two A*'s and an A, and receiving a distinction in advanced extension award for mathematics.
The 18-year-old said: "I was expecting a lot worse in physics to be honest, but I am happy.
"I am planning on a gap year, and studying more here and doing more A-Levels and also mentoring other students, and then hopefully I will go the Oxford to study chemistry."
Mark Baker, headteacher at St Albans said: "We are delighted to see so many of our younger people achieve highly in such a challenging two years.
"We worked hard together, looking after each other as a community, to make sure out sixth formers at St Alban's made it to whatever destinations they chose."
Elsewhere in Ipswich, One Suffolk Sixth Form had successes, with 96% passing their exams, out of over 640 students.
100% of 310 BTEC students also passed their exams.
18-year-old Freddie King is one of the first people in the country to benefit from a new scheme aimed at increasing the number of people from lower socio economic communities to attend Cambridge.
He said: "The thought of being surrounded by potentially some of the brightest minds in the world was initially terrifying.
"I had no interest in Oxbridge before One, but the teachers and my personal progress tutor helped me realise that I'm smart enough to go to an Oxbridge University."
Ipswich School also achieved success, with over a third of all pupils getting at least three A grades, with eight of the cohort getting all A*'s.
Nicholas Weaver, headmaster, said: "Throughout their studies, we have been so impressed by their passion for their subjects - and this has resulted in them securing places at the top universities in the UK.
At Kesgrave High School, 50% of students got grades between A* and B.
One student, Bradley Derbyshire received 5 A*s, and is going to Bristol to read law. Another, Owen Boyd, is going to study sports science at Loughborough.
A spokesperson at Kesgrave High School said: "We are so proud of the achievements of our students this year.
"Having left school without taking their GCSE exams in the Summer of 2020, these students faces the strangest of passages into and then through their post-16 studies.
The University of Suffolk has also seen a busy day for admissions, with clearing and students accepting places.
Vice-chancellor Helen Langton, said: "This year has been a difficult year for young people at schools so we have absolutely made sure that on the majority of a courses we have opened up more spaces.
"We really want young people to have the opportunity to come to university."
Results:
Kesgrave High School
- A*-B - 50%
- A*-C - 77%
- A*-E - 99%
Ipswich School
- A* - 28.3%
- A*-A - 57.8%
- A*-B - 83.2%
One Sixth Form College
- A*-B - 44%
- A*-E - 96%
Copleston High School
- A*-A - 31%
- A*-C - 81.5%
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