Summer of hoping is over for Abu Dhabi A levels students

Students from British School Al Khubairat nervously lined up in front of a nondescript box filled with results that will determine their futures.

Elaine Rawlings, acting head at Al Khubairat, handed out A level results to students and parents. Christopher Pike / The National

ABU DHABI // It’s a familiar scene to anyone who has passed through the British education system - brown envelopes clutched in students’ shaky hands followed by silent reading of results and, in some cases, tears of relief or devastation after a summer spent hoping.

On Thursday, students from British School Al Khubairat nervously lined up in front a non-descript cardboard box filled with the results that will determine their future.

“We’ve had students cry with relief this morning,” said Elaine Rawlings, acting head at the school. “At first they don’t understand how the grades are presented and then finally seeing the A*s is great.”

Under the new international system, students who under-performed will have to wait a year to retake their exams, which not only makes the new system less forgiving, according to Ms Rawlings, but has made for a particularly difficult year.

“The A-level system is currently undergoing a lot of different processes in the UK in terms of government intervention to make it more difficult. To maintain the A grades it’s been quite a phenomenon.”

According to Ms Rawlings, the authorities in charge of the A Levels were concerned with the amount of resits by students who didn’t get the grades they wanted.

“They’re trying to make it more difficult, now you have to take it all around the same time and only once a year, really it’s going back to what it used to be,” said Mrs Rawlings.

Recalling when she sat her own A Levels, Ms Rawlings said that although the system is stressful the school does its best to make sure that students receive all the help and support they need.

Al Khubairat school invited motivational speakers to help students learn about stress-management skills. Some of the school’s staff have also received specialist training so they can implement a structured approach on how to cope with the curriculum.

The British school achieved better results this year compared to previous, with 43 per cent of students scoring A*s, while 65 per cent were within the B to A* range. Four have been accepted into the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in the UK.

Tim Hughes, the incoming headteacher at Al Yasmina School in Abu Dhabi, said he was pleased with his school’s results, adding it was a “proud moment for the students, staff and families of everyone at the school”.

Al Yasmina had 66 students taking three A Levels and increased the pass rate from 89 per cent last year to 100 per cent, with more than 50 per cent scoring A* to B. The school had a 100 per cent pass rate in Arabic and Islamic studies.

“The students have received outstanding results this year,” said Mr Hughes, adding that finding a balance between academic and extra curricular activities was vital for students when applying to top universities that look for skills such as musical or sporting talent and activities such as charity work.

“I am very passionate about this and seek to continue to provide the extensive range of activities for the students,” he said.