STUDENTS across the county have celebrated their historic A Level and vocational results with pupils being widely praised for their 'remarkable resilience'.

It marked the first time since 2019 that exams have taken place - with pupils forced to learn at home through online teaching during several periods as a result of the pandemic.

GCSE and A Level exams were scrapped in 2020 and 2021 meaning, for many of these students, it was the first lot of exams they'd taken at secondary school.

None of that mattered yesterday, though, with students able to celebrate their hard work and look ahead to the next steps.

Nine students from Thomas Hardye's sixth form have secured places at Oxbridge and another youngster will be going on to study veterinary medicine.

Out of the 367 students taking A-levels, 62 received A or A* grades.

Richard Nicholls, head of sixth form, said: "The students have shown a huge amount of resilience. They were very nervous going into exams.

"Their physical experience was very different for them because they didn't do GCSE exams.

"It was almost palpable, the relief, once they'd done one exam they thought 'I can do this'.

Samanta Stuirna, 18, of Portland, was delighted to receive four A*s and an A* in EPQ (Extended Project Qualification), and will study chemistry at Imperial College, London.

Samanta said: "I wasn't expecting to do so well at all. Some of the exams were a bit nasty like physics, the paper had some things on it we weren't expecting."

Bridport and Lyme Regis News: (Clockwise): Samanta, Beth, Jessica, Molly, Joe and students from Weymouth College celebrate their A-Level results. Picture: Graham Hunt Photography(Clockwise): Samanta, Beth, Jessica, Molly, Joe and students from Weymouth College celebrate their A-Level results. Picture: Graham Hunt Photography

Weymouth College celebrated success in both A Level results and vocational qualifications with a 100% A Level pass rate and "outstanding" results for vocational students.

Leading the way at Budmouth Academy were Kiara Simmonds and Yan Thomas; Kiara heads to London to study psychology at university after achieving A* A* A grades in Law, Psychology and Dance whilst Yan secured his place at Southampton University, also studying psychology, after bagging A* A A in Law, French and Psychology.

There was plenty of jubilation at The Woodroffe School, in Lyme Regis, with a host of stand-out grades; Amy Le Bas secured 4 A* grades in in Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Further Maths whilst Freddie Caswell achieved 3 A* grades in Biology, Chemistry and Maths.

It was a 'record smashing' year at The Blandford School with all students passing all their exams and the school's highest ever number of A* - A grades and A*- B grades.

The Gryphon, in Sherborne, has three students heading to Oxbridge universities this year: Lucy Jones (4 A*) will be heading to Oxford to study Classics and Spanish, Bella Whitmore also received 4 A* grades and is going on to study Law at Oxford, and Katie Copp (3 A*, A) is heading to Cambridge to study History with Russian.

An impressive 37% of 3D design students at The Gryphon achieved an A* with four students going on to university to study Architecture.

And there were smiles all round at Shaftesbury School after "a fantastic set of results". Highlights include 5 A*'s for Megan Tubb whilst Florence Mak achieved two Distinction* and a Merit – to bag her sport at Sheffield Hallam studying International Tourism Management.

Councillor Andrew Parry, Dorset Council Portfolio Holder for Children, Education, Skills and Early Help, said: “Students and staff have demonstrated remarkable resilience over the last two years during challenging conditions because of the pandemic, and I thank them for all their hard work.

“You should all be very proud of your achievements."

See Monday's Echo for a results day picture special.