A-level results day: St Vincent College student who resumed studies after overcoming mental health issues among stellar results

The 21-year-old had begun her A-levels at Meoncross Sixth Form in 2015, but anxiety issues meant she had to leave education to focus on her mental health.

Now she couldn’t be happier with her grades, scoring A*s in maths, biology, and geography after resuming and completing her studies at St Vincent College, in Mill Lane, Gosport.

The Stubbington resident said: ‘I couldn’t cope with the school environment before because of my anxiety.

‘I spent my time out with the Prince’s Trust on their Fairbridge programme, which helped rebuild my confidence.

‘This time around, I was aiming for ABB – so I’m very happy with my results.

‘Initially, it was a relief there would be no exams, but then it became very stressful, because there isn’t anything you can do to change the outcome.’

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The former Crofton School pupil hopes to study biology at Southampton University – and many of her college peers will be aiming for other top universities, as the college saw 38 per cent of its pupils achieving higher grades.

St Vincent College principal Andy Grant said he was ‘extremely proud’ of the results, with the college gaining a 97 per cent pass rate in subjects offered.

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Andy said: ‘We are extremely proud of the results our student’s have achieved – our high grades have gone up over ten per cent and our pass rate has increased eight percent, so we’re thrilled for the students. We’re also very proud of staff and students for the work they have undertaken in the last few months.

‘I’m proud of how staff and students adapted to an unprecedented time.’

Commenting on the government’s '11th-hour changes' to assessing student exam results, he said: ‘I do think the very recent announcement about mock results has confused the situation somewhat, but in some cases that will provide students the opportunity to get a higher grade.’

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