The highs and lows of A-levels

Click video. It's been a nail-biting day for thousands of students across the South as they found out their A-Level results. Richard Slee has been sharing their highs and lows.

It's been a nail-biting day for thousands of students across the country as the long awaited A-Level results came through. Andrew and Sangeeta link to Tom Savvides who has been sharing the students' highs and lows.

Reforms to the A level and GCSE system will not devalue a degree, the University minister has told Daybreak.

David Willetts congratulated A level students on their hard work and dubbed University "a worthwhile experience" despite a dwindling job market and mountains of debt graduates can get into.

He also let slip his A level grades - two As, one B and a C.

St Leonards, Mayfield School on the East Sussex/Kent border is celebrating an increase in the number of pupils achieving Aand A grades at A-level, after results were published earlier today. The number of pupils achieving Aand A grades was 56 per cent, an eight per cent increase on 2012.

Anna Sozanska, who joined Mayfield on a full scholarship scheme and sat seven A-levels, achieving A*s in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Polish and As in German, Further Mathematics and Physics. She has been accepted to study Medicine at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

Triplets at the St Simon Stock Catholic School in Maidstone say their A-level results have been a 'nice surprise'. Alexandra, Orla and Eliza will all be starting University in September.

Buckinghamshire New University is busy taking calls this morning from students looking for places through Clearing after receiving their A-Level results.

Experienced staff at the University, based in Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe, are on hand to give careers advice to students who did not get the grades they needed to get into their choice of university.

This year Bucks New University's clearing hotline is open from 8am-8pm today (Thursday 15 August), and between 8am-7pm tomorrow (Friday 16 August) and 9am-3pm on Saturday (17 August).

On A-level results day we spoke to Headteacher Brendan Wall at St Simon Stock Catholic School.

Students from St Simon Stock Catholic School in Maidstone have been collecting their results this morning. The Headteacher said this was the 'best ever results' the school has had in the last five years.