RECORDS were broken at schools across York, North and East Yorkshire as thousands of pupils received their A-level results.

In York, provisional results for city school sixth forms and York College showed the very high standards of previous years were maintained. Initial results indicated attainment was likely to be well above national levels with 41 per cent of students achieving three or more A*-B grades, which is significantly higher than the 2013 national figure of 28 per cent.

In this summer's exams 97 per cent of York students achieved three or more A*-E grades - an increase of two percentage points from 2013 - and the provisional results indicate that this is likely to be well above national levels.

Jon Stonehouse, City of York Council's director of education, said: “These results illustrate once again that York has some of the best secondary schools, colleges and teaching staff in the country.

"One of the key factors in our continued success is the strong, supportive, educational community that exists in York, which allows schools and colleges to share best practice and learn from others. I’m confident that this supportive approach will enable us to continue to improve educational outcomes for all the young people in the city.”

The majority of North Yorkshire schools maintained the very high standards of previous years when the county has consistently been in the top ten per cent of authorities nationally for A-level success. Early indications suggest the authority is likely to have maintained that performance.

The story was similar in East Yorkshire with an East Riding Council spokesman saying that their sixth forms have maintained their successful trend against the background of a national fall in the proportion of A-levels students awarded top grades for the third year in a row.

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