PUPILS at two of Colchester's strongest secondary schools have received their A level results after public exams were held for the first time since 2019.

Both Colchester Royal Grammar School and Colchester County High School for Girls saw hundreds of pupils arrive on Thursday morning to receive their official results to determine their university placings later this year.

Colchester Royal Grammar School saw 85 per cent of all its exams sat receive grade A or above.

More than half of the exams sat received a grade of A*.

Colchester County High School for Girls, ranked as outstanding by Ofsted at its most recent inspection, did not publish exam results.

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The return of results day comes after exams were disrupted for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with some pupils sitting public exams for the very first time despite being in their final year of school.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, pupils received final marks based on coursework and teacher assessment – it meant a jump in grade inflation, with top grades this year for A levels falling from 44 per cent last year down to 36 per cent this year.

Despite this, the percentage of A and A* grades across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland was still higher than in 2019.

The headteacher at Colchester Royal Grammar School, John Russell, said: "Securing the best results that the school has ever seen is testament to our outstanding students and devoted staff.

"Students have responded to the challenging times and the teaching strategy of the school over the past few unusual years, and deserve the remarkable grades they have achieved.”

Explaining the Colchester County High School for Girls' decision not to release information about students’ exam results, executive principal Gillian Marshall said: "It would not be appropriate to publish individual performance figures for schools to make comparisons which might undermine the effort and ongoing commitment of students and colleagues.

"The students can be very proud of the hard work and commitment which has led to the superb examination results they have achieved."