4 days ago
'Being my daughter's A-level teacher was strange'
Among the thousands of personal A-level stories on Thursday, not many will feature students getting grades for courses that were taught by their at Telford College, that's exactly what happened to Lauren Merrick. She learned of her grade having sat through two years of law classes led by mum Sarah, who was alongside her when she got the who earned a C in law and a C in criminology, said she was "really pleased" with the added that teaching her daughter had been "a really strange experience", but also a "special" one. She called it "the highlight of my career".
Elsewhere at Telford College on Thursday, T-level students were advocating their vocational courses as alternatives to A-levels following exam receiving grades were among England's early cohort of T-level students, with the courses - which feature a practical component - only rolled out several years ago. Olivia Melville, who achieved a distinction in her health T-level, hopes to get a place on a university midwifery course through 18-year-old said she chose T-level over A-level because she liked "the idea of being hands-on and the placement aspect of it, which was really good for me".She said being among the nation's early T-level students had been exciting and part of the appeal.
T-levels include a mixture of classroom learning and on-the-job experience. A work placement of at least 315 hours - or nine weeks - makes up about 20% of the college saw a 100% pass rate in areas including health, beauty, and the more traditional A-levels, the college said it had its best pass rate since 2021, with subjects including geography and sociology seeing all students passing.
Jasmine Lewis-Kennedy studied A-level psychology, criminology, and sociology at the college. "I walked away with what I wasn't expecting, but nevertheless I got into my firm choice," she said, adding that "it just means that even if you don't think it's gonna go your way [...] everything will work out."Jasmine is now off to study forensic psychology at the University of Chester. She said she was hoping "you might see me on the news solving cases, or something like that".
Student Rhys Evans said he got a B in A-level physics and a C in 21-year-old told BBC Radio Shropshire he was "relieved and excited for the future".On the morning of results day, Rhys said he was "nervous but excited and felt a lot of anticipation - really I wanted to know more than anything".
The college's principal Lawrence Wood said that whilst the results were important, , the key thing is that students have "got through to the next step and they know where they are heading"."We're incredibly proud of them."
Other schools across Shropshire are also celebrating their results. The Marches School and Sixth Form in Oswestry said "it's been a privilege to watch [the students] grow", and highlighted successes including student Lauren Doodson who is off to study medicine at Oxford University and James Watson who will be studying Paramedic Science at the University of Staffordshire. Sir John Talbot's School in Whitchurch said it "couldn't be prouder" of their pupils, and gave "special shout-outs" to students Amy Jackson and Luke White-Culf who will be respectively studying anthropology at Durham University, and physics at the University of Sheffield. Students at Grove School in Market Drayton were praised for their "determination, drive and perseverance", with staff highlighting the achievements of students like Layla Marshall who will be doing an apprenticeship with the National Farmers' Union, and Sadie Harvey who is going on to study English Literature at Warwick University.
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