Next Gen News

AND AS-day results of an anxious time for our students, but now they are ready for next challenge

On A-level results day, I phone Rachael Spowage, one of the quartet of sixth-form students who agreed to let Guardian Education into their lives for a year. I'm greeted with a cross between a squeal and an excited-sounding "hello". I take it she has had good news â€" and she has. Rachael, 18, who was studying at Longley Park sixth-form college in Sheffield, beat her offer to study physics with astrophysics at Sheffield, obtaining an A* in maths and As in chemistry and physics.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic â€" but totally exhausted too, I didn't sleep at all last night," she says. "I kept imagining my results. I'm zonked now, but I don't care. Anything could happen today, and it wouldn't wipe the smile off my face."

Rachael discovered she had met her university offer at 6.20 in the morning after logging into the Ucas Track system. "Then, it was just a case of waiting to see how I'd done, so I went into college later on. Luckily, most of my friends have done really well, too. Almost all have either met their firm offer or their insurance place." Rachael's friends who did miss their offers opted to avoid clearing. "I think the chaos put them off â€" they've all decided to take a year out, return to college to take another AS or do re-takes, and try again next year."

After spending the morning celebrating with friends, Rachael, who is moving into halls of residence for her fresher year, was already in Ikea "buying everything" when Guardian Education caught up with her. "I'm with my mum and dad, we're buying kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, general stuff to make my room comfortable," she says.

Only one thing has threatened to deflate her happiness. "It's really annoying when people again talk about A-levels getting easier â€" they're really, really hard, and they're lots of work," Rachael says. "So it drives me mad when people try to take away from the achievement. But I've done them, I've got my results, and I'm going to uni. Just today, I don't really care what they say."

Further south, Catherine Westbrook, 18, who studied at Dane Court school in Broadstairs, Kent, had more time to wait for its results. Catherine, who is blind, asked his sister to enter the UCAS Track the first morning - ", but it wouldn t work '," she says. "The site must be overloaded, so I had to wait until I could get to school. And he took ages.

"Our car is out of action so we â€" my parents and nana came with me â€" had to catch the train, and then a bus. It took an hour and a bit â€" I just wanted to get there!"

At school, Catherine was handed an envelope with her results, which she gave to her mum to read. "But she started reading the wrong page, she picked up the one with a breakdown of my music results, and those happened to be my lowest results and one was actually a U, so it was all a bit scary," says Catherine. "But luckily someone pointed out she was on the wrong sheet, so then she read out my real grades."

Catherine was desperate to find out if she'd met her offer to read maths at Reading. "My mum read out my results â€" an A maths, B in physics, C in music and D in my AS in further maths. As she read them, I was trying to quickly work out the corresponding Ucas points. When I realised they didn't add up, I went to speak to the head of sixth form, but there was a long queue as everyone wanted to speak to her. Eventually she phoned Reading for me. We had to hang on for 10 minutes, though it felt like much longer. But, eventually, they said congratulations, you're in. I started jumping up and down!"

Catherine intends to spend the rest of summer "taking it easy", but still has some university preparations to sort out.

"I'm waiting to hear about my accommodation, and once I've been given somewhere, I'll need to pay the deposit," she says. "I'm planning to move in a few days before the start of freshers' week, so I can get to know the area, and have mobility training. My blindness doesn't make me more worried about starting uni, but I am concerned that my Disabled Student Allowance won't come through in time. Apart from that, though, I'm feeling set up for uni. I can't wait."

The application process is all still to come for Lewis Nelken, 17, who spent the morning before he received his AS results "feeling sick". Lewis drove to his school, JFS in Kenton, London, with his mum, but once he'd picked up his results envelope "I went to find a corridor where I could be by myself to open it, and left my mum waiting in the car."

"My A in economics was a total surprise â€" I came out of the exam room thinking I'd failed. It made me feel like I'm taking the right path in applying for a maths-related degree." Lewis's next step is to decide which subject to drop next year. "I'll definitely stick with maths and economics, and I'll either continue with RS or politics, too," he says.

"I have to decide by September, but it will also depend on whether my choice fits with school's timetable. I also might resit one of my politics exams, one module dragged me down a lot." Like all Guardian Education's students, Lewis is pleased to have the exams behind him. He adds: "Now I'm going to enjoy the rest of the summer."

Miriam Rose, a student of the fourth and then Guardian of Education, did not return calls before the paper went to press. Book Lucy Tobin 'for students, a guide to Uni life, (?? 9,99 Trotman), with everything from packing tips for booking assistance, there are currently