\n<\/p>\n
Eva Baker, 18, was racked with nerves in the days running up to Thursday \u2013 when sixth-form students throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their A-level results.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sleepless nights were worth it though,\u201d said Baker. \u201cI just got off the phone with my first choice and I\u2019ve got in, I can\u2019t believe it honestly. I\u2019m just made up.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the past two years, Baker said she went from not knowing if she even wanted to finish school to being appointed head student and achieving grades she did not think were possible \u2013 including an A in law, which she is going to study in September.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore I came here, I don\u2019t know, I was on the wrong track I think. I just didn\u2019t think I could do it. But my teacher saw something in me that I didn\u2019t see in myself. They made me head student and they pushed me, helped me study and I\u2019m so grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eva was one of the hundreds of delighted faces opening their results outside Birkenhead sixth-form college, a state institute that says it prioritises social mobility and opportunity in an area with some of the highest levels of deprivation in the country.<\/p>\n
Of the more than 600 students who attend the school, 92% will go to their first-choice university this year, 10% more than the national average and significantly more than the 60% achieved by other schools in the area.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Birkenhead sixth-form college says it prioritises social mobility and opportunity.<\/span> Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had so many parents say this is the best choice they\u2019ve ever made,\u201d said its principal, Mike Kilbride, watching students and parents line up in the car park to enjoy a free celebratory breakfast provided by the college.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we do is we say, we\u2019re going to take people from our community \u2013 in all these shapes and sizes that they come in \u2013 and we\u2019re going to help them become outstanding young people, academically and behaviourally and culturally.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we are about moulding young people, whether they go to university or not, to be the best people they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n Kaitlin Archer received three As and is due to start studying to be a doctor in Edinburgh. Having travelled in from Cheshire every day and often staying after school to study, she said the school had helped her grow as a person as well as a student, giving her the confidence to move away to a new city for the next phase of her life.<\/p>\n \u201cI think to be honest, the biggest change has just been me as a person. I\u2019ve always been, you know, someone who just stays at home, but I\u2019ve come here and met the people and I feel like I\u2019ve just changed a lot. I\u2019m happy academically but personally as well, I\u2019m happy with where I\u2019ve ended up.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>A record proportion of A-level students earned top grades in England this year.<\/span> Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n One of the school\u2019s greatest success stories this year is 18-year-old Scott Rawling, who has been admitted to the University of Oxford to study english literature. Rawling, state educated and from nearby Pensby, said he was proud to have achieved something that he thought was impossible when he started his A-levels two years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s in the back of your mind, that a lot of people who go to those types of places are richer,\u201d said Rawling, who was encouraged to apply to Oxbridge by his teachers. \u201cIt\u2019s not something I expected, but I\u2019m so happy I got in, and I feel pride in the fact that I went to a state school.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the sea of smiles in the school\u2019s car park, possibly the biggest was worn by Jane Rawling, Scott\u2019s mother. Speaking about her son\u2019s achievements while apologising for him disappearing to go to the pub with his friends, she said she could not be prouder of her son.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s worked so hard and the school\u2019s helped him so much, it\u2019s amazing. He really has put a lot of effort in and I\u2019m really pleased that it\u2019s paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n Jane Rawling said she would pack her son a Tranmere Rovers top when he leaves to begin his studies in October, but that she was not worried about his future prospects.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so glad as well that he stayed true to himself,\u201d she said. \u201cYou know, he\u2019s not changed in any particular way other than he\u2019s just developed and he\u2019s grown and he\u2019s just a really nice person and I think, actually, Oxford will be really lucky to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eva Baker, 18, was racked with nerves in the days running up to Thursday \u2013 when sixth-form students throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their A-level results. \u201cThe sleepless nights were worth it though,\u201d said Baker. \u201cI just got off the phone with my first choice and I\u2019ve got in, I can\u2019t believe it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[2372,8791,9257,535,3058,678],"class_list":{"0":"post-15728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-ace","9":"tag-alevels","10":"tag-birkenhead","11":"tag-college","12":"tag-pushed","13":"tag-students"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}