Oxford News
A-level results: Top grades rise for the third year in a row
A total of 28.5 per cent of UK entries were awarded either an A or A*, up 0.2 percentage points from last year, and above the 25.4 per cent in 2019.
This is the highest proportion on record outside the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22, when the figure peaked at 44.8 per cent in 2021.
READ MORE: Live updates on A-level results day in Oxfordshire
Some 9.6 per cent of all UK exam entries received an A*, the third increase in a row, up from 9.4 per cent last year.
Discounting the pandemic-affected years of 2020-22 – when the figure peaked at 19.1 per cent in 2021 – 9.6 per cent is the highest proportion since the A* grade was first awarded in 2010.
Similarly on the up, a total of 78.4 per cent of entries received a C or above, an increase of 0.5 percentage points on last year.
This is again the highest percentage for this level of grade outside the pandemic.
The overall pass rate, grades A* to E, was 97.5 per cent, unchanged from last year and just slightly lower than 2019, which was 97.6 per cent.
The gap is growing, however, between the best-performing and worst-performing regions, with London seeing the highest proportion of entries awarded grades of A or A* at 37.2 per cent, up from 32.1 per cent last year.
READ MORE: A Level grade boundaries for AQA, OCR, and Edexcel revealed
But the north-east of England and the East Midlands had the joint lowest proportion of the top grades awarded, with just 23.1 per cent.
The East Midlands saw the largest year-on-year fall, down 0.7 points from 23.8 per cent, while north-east England rose slightly by 0.2 points, up from 22.9 per cent.
The 9.6 percentage point gap between London and the North East, and between London and the East Midlands, is the largest between these pairs of regions since the present system of grading began in 2010, according to Press Association analysis of results data.
Boys have extended their lead over girls in the top grades, after last year leading over girls by 0.2 per centage points.
READ MORE: Oxfordshire firefighters ‘exhausted’ amid ‘relentless’ fires
The proportion of boys’ entries awarded A or A* this year was 28.9 per cent, 0.9 percentage points higher than the equivalent figure for girls’ entries, at 28 per cent.
It is the second year in a row that boys have led girls in entries getting A or above, following a period from 2020-24 when girls were ahead.
But it wasn’t all change, as the most popular subject in the UK was maths, for the 13th year in a row. It had 115,380 entries, up 3.9 per cent from 111,033 in 2025.
The Thames Valley Police Abingdon unit arrested a man for “breaching court bail conditions” on Saturday, August 29.
A spokesperson said: “On Saturday, PC Hackett attended reports of a male breaching court bail conditions.
READ MORE: Public told ‘DO NOT APPROACH’ as wanted man sighted in Oxford centre
“With assistance from PC Ellingworth and PC Harvey, the male was arrested. Following a search, a knife was recovered from his possession.”
In a wide ranging update, the force also revealed it had supported in a “concern for welfare incident linked to the night-time economy.
In addition, it had carried out licensing checks across Abingdon with drug wipes used and sent off for testing
OXFORD Mail Camera Club members have been taking photos of their dogs
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The collision happened on the southbound carriageway between Junction 6 for Lewknor and Junction 5 for Watlington in the late morning on Saturday, August 29.
The emergency services attended the scene and closed the road,
National Highways said lanes two and three of the three-lane motorway were shut as a result while crews dealt with the incident, leading to delays of around 40 minutes.
Congestion was worsened by separate lane closures between Junctions 4 and 5 in both directions following damage to the central reservation from an earlier incident.
Traffic built up on approaches to the crash, with nearby areas including Stokenchurch and Lewknor also affected.
Images from traffic cameras showed long queues of vehicles and emergency workers at the scene throughout the afternoon.
AA Travel also reported that one lane was closed on the northbound carriageway between Handy Cross and Stokenchurch due to emergency repairs.
National Highways later confirmed that all southbound lanes between Junctions 6 and 5 had reopened and that the lane closures linked to the earlier incident were also being removed.
Despite the reopening, delays of around 40 minutes remained on the approach as traffic slowly returned to normal.
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