Fantastic photos show students celebrating their A-level exam results across Derbyshire

It marked the culmination of a turbulent few years for the cohort who saw their education disrupted during the Covid pandemic.

Widely referred to as ‘Generation Covid’, this year’s students have been through many challenges from lockdowns to online learning to cancelled GCSE exams.

On Thursday, they opened envelopes with grades that reflected the return to formal exams for the first time since 2019 after two years of cancellations saw results in 2020 and 2021 determined by teacher assessments.

This year's A-level marking system has been adjusted, so that grades reflect "a midway point" between 2019 - when 25.4% were A* and A grades - and 2021, when teacher-assessed grades led to a boom in top marks.

England's exam watchdog Ofqual said the approach was intended to bring grades closer to pre-pandemic levels, while reflecting "that we are in a pandemic recovery period and students' education has been disrupted".

The overall pass rate fell to 98.4 per cent this year, compared to 99.5 per cent in 2021 when grades were awarded by teachers.

However, it has risen from the last time students sat exams in 2019, when the proportion of entries awarded A* to E grades was 97.6 per cent.

It was also the first year of results for new vocational T-level qualifications in England, designed to be equivalent to three A-levels, which had a pass rate of 92.2 per cent.

Take a look at our gallery below for some reaction from students as they found out their grades on A-level results day 2022 in Derbyshire.