THOUSANDS of A-level students are today planning their futures after learning the results of their A and Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level exams.

In the last year of the traditional A level the pass rate at grades A-E for Welsh Joint Education Committee exams was a record at 94.3 per cent, up 0.6 per cent on last year.

The new AS level also proved to be a success - despite teachers and pupils' complaints of too much pressure and clashes with exam timetables, the pass rate was 91.1 per cent. In Newport, Bettws High School head teacher, Robert Meier, said the school recorded its best results.

The per centage of the 32 students who took A-levels, gaining grades A-C, was 64 per cent and the overall pass rate was 98 per cent.

Among those celebrating was Maria Plummer of Larch Grove, Malpas. The 18-year-old needed two B grades and a C for a place at Bristol University to study art. She got two As and a B - but is now going through the clearing process after deciding to study culture and media studies instead.

She said: "I am very happy. My friends also all got the grades they needed to go to university. We will now all be going to celebrate in the local pub."

At AS level, the 42 Bettws students achieved a pass rate of 75 per cent and at grades A-C the rate was 42 per cent.

St Alban's Roman Catholic School in Pontypool said they received an "excellent" set of results. A total of 71 per cent of students had grades A-C, with one in five getting A grades.

Deputy head teacher, Stuart Jones, said: "We have had a set of excellent results this year, particularly in mathematics.

"Most of our pupils have got into the university of their choice. Overall they were excellent and what we expected, as we have had a high level of achievement in a range of subjects."

The total pass rate from the school was 98.4 per cent, with 40 pupils taking A-levels. The Welsh Joint Education Committee pass rate is 94.3 per cent, up 0.6 per cent on last year. But some students at Brynmawr School missed out on getting their results - because an exam board didn't post them in time.

Students were left with waiting for some results from London-based examining board Ed Excel.

Clive Boulter, head teacher of the school said: "I'm furious with the examining board because we have pupils who are left hanging on trying to sort out university places without knowing their full results."

Mr Boulter said this made it difficult to reach a true figure of pupils' achievements, but the school had a 97 per cent pass rate for grades A-E on the results that had arrived.

*PICTURED: Delighted pupils at Bettws High School, Newport.