Schools have been bustling in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as hundreds of thousands of students received their long-awaited A-level results.
There was much to celebrate as the proportion of A-level entries awarded top grades increased since last year and results remained above pre-pandemic levels.
Excluding the years of the pandemic (2020-2022) students achieved the highest proportion of A* grades since they were first handed out in 2010.
There were hugs all round as students, like these ones at Ark Globe Academy in south-east London, received their A-level results (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
A total of 27.8% of entries were awarded either an A or A* (Liam McBurney/PA)
Results day can be an emotional time for students and parents (Jacob King/PA)
Some students were keen to share their results with friends and family via their mobile phones (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
These students from Hazelwood Integrated College in Newtonabbey, Belfast, were very pleased with their results (Liam McBurney/PA)
Northern Ireland’s Education Secretary Paul Given (centre) joined in with the celebrations among these students at Belfast High School (Liam McBurney/PA)
