BOSSES at Oldham Sixth Form College have paid tribute to the resilience of students who were not able to sit A Levels, AS Levels, or GCSE exams or their Applied General courses.

Along with other institutions the college had to submit "Centre Assessed Grades" (CAGs) for every student and these have been moderated by the awarding bodies.

Executive principal Jayne Clarke said: "We know that this has been an incredibly difficult period for students, given all the uncertainty about how their results would be determined, and the potential implications for their chosen progression routes.

"Both our A Level and our Applied General results are very strong, as usual, and a record number of OSFC students have secured places at Russell Group universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, and we are sending the highest number in the college’s history to study Medicine and Dentistry.

"There are many other superb outcomes in terms of both progression to a wide range of universities and degree courses, and to other excellent options, including apprenticeships and employment, while a number of students are taking ‘gap years’ before moving onto Higher Education in 2021."

The college boasts the widest choice of A Levels in the area and a four AS Level programme for A Level students in Year 12, giving students a full external exam experience in their first year, a greater number of qualifications than offered by most sixth form providers, and flexibility about subject choices on progression through to Year 13.

The AS Levels took on special importance this year as part of the calculations of CAGs for A Level students. Our students are now well-placed to move on to a broad range of exciting destinations.

Ms Clarke went on: “Although this has been a very different and challenging year for everyone, we are very proud of our students’ resilience and hard work, which have enabled them to secure these results, albeit through a very different process, placing them very strongly for their chosen progression routes.

"Our fantastic staff, too, moved to online delivery overnight and have supported students incredibly effectively.

"We wish all our students the very best of luck on the next steps in their futures, whether this be at university, on an apprenticeship or in employment.”