Isle of Man sees slight rise A-level results

The overall pass rate for the Isle of Man's 400 A-levels has risen by 1% on the previous year to 98%.

The Department of Education, Sport and Culture (Desc) confirmed the number of students earning grades A* to E was just below 2019's pre-pandemic rate of 98.4%.

Ballakermeen High School (BHS) Sixth Form director Richard Karran said the results were "building back quicker" than expected after the coronavirus pandemic and strikes by teachers.

Mr Karran said students A* to B grades had improved by 5% since 2023.

Provisional results from the island's five state-funded high school showed pupils achieving grades A* to B had risen by 7% on 2023 to 48%, while those in the A* to C band were up by 9% to 76%.

Mr Karran said while 85% of BHS school leavers had been accepted to their first choice university, there had been a doubling in the number who had decided to take up jobs on the island.

Students were "seeing more opportunities at home" in the form of apprenticeships and with support from career services, he added.

Jenna Crawford, who hopes to become a police officer in future, collected her results before her shift at the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company began at lunchtime.

The 18-year-old she was "really proud" to have earned the two merits, which are the equivalent of two Cs, that she needed to able to apply for the force in future.

Jenna Nicol said she had been "pleasantly surprised" with her results because she had "found my exams really quite difficult".

She said it was "exciting but scary" to be starting a job in a large financial institution in a month, and praised the support she had received from the careers service to help her secure the post as she knew university "wasn't for me".

Danielle Wilkinson said she was "delighted" with the five A* grades she gained, while also managing living with type 1 diabetes.

The 18-year-old, who has secured a place the University of Cambridge, said she had to balance revision and monitoring her sugar levels, which could be affected by the stress of exams.

"It was just one extra thing to think about and although it was a lot of hard work, but I'm over the moon it paid off," she added.

Praveen Ballakrishnan has achieved five A* A-levels, having sat two subjects alongside his GCSEs two years ago.

He said he was "very excited" to be attending the University of Oxford, as he was the first in his family to do so.

Desc Minister Daphne Caine said the island's students should be "proud of their achievements and the skills developed along the way".

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