A headteacher has hit out at “scaremongering, unhelpful” stories about A level results in the national media as this year’s teens receive their grades today.

Rosie McColl, who is head at Brighton Girls GDST, said 2023’s A level candidates had suffered educational disruption and never got to sit their GCSEs thanks to Covid and the last thing they needed was the “gloom and doom” of recent newspaper headlines predicting a scramble for university places as marking returns to pre-pandemic standards.

The Montpelier Road school head said: “The reality is that these students faced significant disruption to their studies while working towards their GCSEs and were denied the opportunity to sit public exams two years ago.

"What’s more, they will have absorbed the annual unhelpful, scaremongering in the week leading up to results day, which this year danced around the themes of grade “correction” and the need for a reset to pre-pandemic norms.

"Throughout this doom and gloom narrative, they have shown incredible resilience and they have my complete admiration for the way in which they got on with the task at hand, working towards their goals calmly and methodically."

The school’s Year 13s celebrated as 92 per cent of the cohort got accepted at their first or second choice university.

Ms McColl added: “I am proud of everything our students have achieved. This was a special cohort who will be remembered for the generous contributions they made, not only to the school community but to the wider community of Brighton and Hove.

“They have been great role models. Among those receiving results today were Raphaela, who in addition to studying A Levels in Latin, biology and chemistry, was awarded the Lord Lingfield Medal of Achievement for her achievements within St John’s Ambulance and who also volunteered during the Covid vaccination programme as a patient carer and advocate.

“And then there is Ruby, who volunteered as a hospital befriender on the Stroke Ward while studying for her A levels. This sort of resilience and commitment to community during the tough years we have all been through, is what I am very proud of today.”