A record number of Islington students have been awarded top A Level grades this year according to Islington Council, with more than a quarter of entries given an A* or A.

Provisional A Level results show that more than half of all entries at Islington’s secondary schools and academies with sixth forms were awarded grades A*-B - which is better than this year’s national average.

Cllr Kaya Comer-Schwartz, Islington’s executive member for children young people and families, congratulated all the pupils who received their BTEC, AS and A Level results yesterday.

“The coronavirus pandemic has made it a difficult year for pupils up and down the country, but especially for those completing their courses and expecting to sit final exams this summer,” she said.

“I’m exceptionally proud of every single young person who has continued to work so hard through the uncertainty of the last few months, which are unprecedented in modern times.

“Getting to this point is a real achievement – not just for our young people but also for our teachers and staff working behind the scenes, who have risen to the many challenges of the last few months.”

Instead of sitting exams this year, the coronavirus pandemic has meant that exam boards calculated students’ grades nationally based on factors including teachers’ predictions, mock exam results and the attainment of their peers in previous years.

The Department for Education intends to apply a ‘triple-lock’ for A-level grades, and has said that if students are unhappy with their A or AS level grade, they will have the opportunity to sit an exam in the autumn, or to use the results of mock exams that a school might have set before lockdown through the appeal process.

But the final details are still being worked on.

Cllr Comer-Schwartz said: “Despite the heroic efforts of Islington’s children, some will be bitterly disappointed with their results today and have been hard done by,” she said.

“It is vital that the Government urgently looks at a genuine appeals process, open to all students to appeal their results on any basis, as well as put a support plan in place for those doing retakes in the autumn.”