‘Everyone got lower than they thought’: mixed feelings over A-level grades in Surrey

Christian Limatola had been predicted to get three A*s and an A in his A-levels but found out on Thursday morning that he had been awarded ABBB in maths, further maths, physics and chemistry. “When I told my mum, she was as shocked as I was,” he said.

“I feel like the general consensus is that everyone got lower than they thought they would. People are telling me they either just made it or they are disappointed,” said Limatola, 18, who is now heading to the University of Nottingham to study physics instead of his first choice, Edinburgh.

His school, Richard Challoner, an all-boys Catholic state school in New Malden, on the Surrey border, had closely matched the national average for state schools with 23% of students achieving A or A* in 2019, and this year had 28.1% at that standard.

Limatola, having initially felt disappointed, said he was now focused on his unexpected new journey. “I now need to look for accommodation, I will see how it goes, I did not prepare for my insurance. I’m gonna have lunch with my mum and then celebrate later, I need it!”

This year across England, grades have returned nearly to pre-pandemic levels, after the Covid era when students received teacher-assessed appraisals in 2020 and 2021. The exams regulator, Ofqual, launched a plan to tackle grade inflation, and 26.5% of all entries were awarded A or A*, compared with 25.2% in 2019.

At Richard Challoner, some students were forgoing the prospect of university owing to its cost and their interest in careers based on a trade. Freddie Fuller, 18, said he was planning on taking a gap year and was “really pleased” with the BBC he got in PE, sociology and RE. “At the moment an apprenticeship appeals to me much more than an office job and hopefully I can use the time to decide between the options I have,” he said.

The overall picture was overwhelmingly positive and the headteacher, Sean Maher, said the return to pre-pandemic grading had not affected the school “at all, really”. The average grade at Richard Challoner was B-, the same as in 2020 and 2021.

“It is testament to the professionalism of our staff. I feel vindicated by the hard work,” Maher said. “In some ways results are immaterial. Are they lovely young men and women? If we can say that and they’ve got the results they deserve, then we can say our job is done.”

The head prefect, Niall McCormack, is going to Oxford to study geography, having scored A*AA in geography, economics and history. He said the good news was a weight off his shoulders after weeks of hearing that grade boundaries would be much stricter this year.

So, how would the students be celebrating? Ryan Galazka and Matthew Frusicante, both 18, said they had one last hurrah planned at Pryzm nightclub in nearby Kingston upon Thames. “I think we’ll see everyone out tomorrow,” they said. “It’s time for us to relax and let our hair down and enjoy ourselves for one last night together.”