A day for joy, drama and jubilation

Some comprehensive schools are getting better A-level results than the 160 remaining grammar schools, according to a survey by the Independent.

As 250,000 candidates received their A-level results yesterday, Fulford School in York came top in the survey of 200 comprehensive schools.

The Liverpool comprehensive, the Blue Coat School, which will become selective next year, came second.

Throughout the country there were scenes of celebration and sorrow as A-level candidates discovered whether they had made the grade for university.

The pass rate for the exam has risen by 1.8 percentage points this year to a record level of almost 86 per cent. The percentage gaining top A and B grades was 34 per cent.

Lord Henley, the schools minister, denied that higher pass rates meant easier exams. He said on BBC Radio Four: "If everyone can reach the gold standard they should be entitled to get it, as long as we make sure standards are maintained and the currency is not devalued."

There were remarkable success stories. Several schools reported pupils with six A grades. They included Matthew Weston, 18, of Skegness Grammar School, who is going to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, to read maths and Jeremy Brookman, of King Edward V1 Camp Hill School for Boys, a Birmingham grammar school, who will read maths at St John's College, Oxford.

Rebecca Williams, of Durham Johnston comprehensive, who cannot write because of a condition affecting her tendons, scored three As after dictating her exams to a teacher.

Pat Dwyer, the deputy head, said: "It was very difficult for Rebecca as she couldn't take any notes in lessons to revise from. And obviously, it must be very difficult to articulate your thoughts in an exam situation and then dictate them."

An 11-year-old London boy passed an A-level in computer science after only nine months' study. Alp Bora Toker gained a C after attending Northwood Computer Tutorial Centre.

Your chance to find a place

The Independent and the Independent on Sunday will again this year be the ONLY papers to run all the official Ucas lists of university and college vacancies.

If you're looking for a place, get the Independent on Monday, when we will publish the first lists in full.