A level results day 2026

Hi @Manthide @pinkdelight a no from the ARP here too! She’s absolutely fine and has accepted her Durham place. Her college has been confirmed as Hild Bede, so we can start the shopping now! 🫣

@Aluna thanks for your wise words. They are great grades, he needs to see that now and put Bristol at the top of his mind. He’ll have a great time there and it will build his confidence to be in a thriving, exciting city.

Just looked, they don't unfortunately. Just a scheme where you can buy a meal a day per term and they choose where to eat it.

Another idea is to find out if your DC’s university has a foodhall type place, either on campus (often if it’s a campus uni) or in the student union if not, and if they do gift cards. Our DS’s uni has a foodhall that we buy a gift card for at the start of each semester - it’s a nice treat for him to get something on days he’s on campus all day with spaced out classes, and can’t be bothered to make a packed lunch.

We were on the other thread :-) Talking about foundation years. Did your son get his place then? I've lost track on here! Ours got his place approved so that was a relief. A monthly Asda gift card sounds like a great idea! I will think about that rather than just give money which might not be spent on food!

UEA starts really early- 14th September so I feel I have to quickly get him up to speed. He's very hungover today though and has to get a flight. He's decided he's going to keep all his cutlery in his room and has rejected my offer of a monthly Asda gift card because he thinks he can live on Waitrose essentials! We'll see how long that lasts! He has accommodation and is already on a Halls group chat.

They should ask for a priority review, which takes 15 days (but usually quicker). That said, the chance of finding 4 marks on a chemistry paper is v v low (I mark reviews for a different subject and we are encouraged not to change marks unless we have to, and 4 is a big change). Uni can hold the place until the review is done. They have to honour the place if she gets the grade but if she doesn't, that place just isn't filled.

Did his first choice not offer an alternative course like a foundation year? Someone we know had that when his results were similar. I'm guessing not. What subject was it he wanted to do?

So DD has missed out on her firm of St Andrews as she dropped a grade but has an offer from York her insurance. She was gutted yesterday but is a bit happier today. She was consistently getting A’s in Chemistry throughout sixth form and missed the A in chemistry by 4 marks. Her teacher has asked to look at her paper for a potential re mark.
She spoke to St Andrews to see if they would accept her with the B grade, they said no as there was no place, but they would also hold her place to wait on her getting paper re marked. Can anyone explain how it all works? The place is hers again if she gets an A, so it can’t have gone, but if it’s still a B, is someone waiting in the wings for it with better grades? And if not surely it’s better to give the place to someone who just missed the grade?

Thank you all. I think we just feel blindsided really. I feel like I’m not really breathing if that makes any sense.

School predicted grades were way off. Think ABB turned into CCD sort of thing (not exact, but that’s the general theme).

DParents said “everything happens for a reason” aarrgghh - the least helpful thing anyone could say!

Ah sorry, @Muchtoomuchtodo, forgot about the deferral! Jack Martin was where I stayed for my first year many moons ago so can confirm his instincts are good ones 🙂

@Fabfabfab, great that it’s been confirmed, hopefully the excitement can now begin to grow!

I only know the moving in window as per Warwick website here (also has the term dates conveniently): https://warwick.ac.uk/study/termdates/

I believe once they are allocated accommodation they have to complete an online induction and if planning to arrive by car book a moving in date and slot within that window.

Goodness, I’m so sorry to hear this is still ongoing. Glad you got the results in the end yesterday (isn’t it ridiculous how things suddenly move when MPs get involved and when things are made public - so wrong it should take that to get people to do the right thing), but sorry the whole situation is murky.

I can totally understand the exhaustion - I’m sure yesterday was a lot - physically, mentally and emotionally.

Hope you get some rest over the weekend and that helps with clear heads to make decisions.

Just this minute found out she hasn't got in. I'm sure ds will have a great time at Warwick- we've got to go all the way to St Andrews!

A no from the arp here. All good. Happy with firm and can fully commit now. Loads luck if you’re still waiting…

What excellent grades it’s gutting not to get into your first choice with those. Some courses are very oversubscribed so there’s no leeway. He’ll enjoy Bristol and it will all be forgotten by the time he gets there.

DS missed his grades to get into Imperial a couple of years ago so was gutted but did get into his insurance. It felt like such a swift savage blow especially after Oxford also turned him down after his interview. He's very happy and it’s all in past.

DD was ill during her exams so got a lower mark for one subject so none of her top uni choices would accept her with that one lower grade. She took a gap year anyway and is going somewhere this September she’s looking forward to with grades in hand and feels lucky a great university accepted her with a room in halls. She’d have loved Bristol but it was big no from them. Pity really she studied so hard so it was all very heartbreaking at the time but she lucked out with 2 As despite being very ill during one of those subjects too. She’s a trouper and I love her for that and the RG uni that took a chance on her.

It has been a real nightmare for you and your son. It does sound like the school were at fault. I take it he didn't get his first choice with UCAS or didn't want Insurance? What subject was he wanting to study and did he get decent grades after all that? There are still some places in clearing I think but it could be hard to find anything much by Monday - but still worth phoning places. Waiting till next year is an option now he has his grades I guess. But I would be fuming! I expect making a complaint would just get some pathetic excuse and apology and not achieve much.

Jeepers Oh! I’ve just looked up the Wales student loan page and it’s very generous! We’re in NI and due to our income we are on the lowest level of maintenance loan for our DC. That’s about £6.5k (I think!) per year. For DS who is in Dublin that just about covered half his rent. While there is a London uplift, there is no such uplift for Dublin even though costs there are as high, if not higher than London. It’s wild.

Thank you to everyone asking after us!

It was a slower start (we were all overwhelmed and burnt out after yesterday). Our luck changed after the local social media posting for help was tagged to our local MP - funnily enough things moved very quickly after that!

It’s all a bit murky what went wrong though - don’t know whether to pursue and challenge this, we are all beyond exhausted.

Not sure whether son will wait until next year and reapply then, as nothing in clearing is leaping out at him.

They’re fantastic grades either way. I’m crossing my fingers for him.

Globally Bristol ranks higher than Warwick anyway. It will make zero difference to his life and career. (Also as a city chick I’d take Bristol for ambiance).

Not only that, it's actually - majority - English tax payers funding it. See Barnett Formula. It doesn't seem fair does it! Particularly when English students have to pay if they study in Scotland. Crazy.

I just looked up student funding in Wales and it is much better than England! Scotland is free. It seems English students are at a big disadvantage!

His sister went to Oxford though!

He was always mad about the theatre but realised he didn't have the talent to make it as an actor. So he threw himself into doing stage management etc and now works in promotion/production etc at one of the London theatres. With the help of his UEA degree!

I don't know how places like UEA, Reading, Leicester etc have somehow slipped off the radar. When I went to uni these would all have been considered good choices, certainly equal to Lancaster or Liverpool.

DD only has one choice of halls .. Luckily she has a place in it, but £287.50 a week..... Looks like I can't retire yet!!!

'My nephew went to UEA and his parents acted like he was joining Swampy and co in a commune'

😂😂 Made me laugh