A level results out

Stand by for images of excited teenagers crowding around a noticeboard awaiting information.Screams as the results become known.Numerous stories about how exams are getting easier,and not producing the right sort of students.Local papers with front page stories featuring the twins that have got 8 A's between them etc etc etc.

Yes it is that day that enlivens every year the slow August news,the A level results are published and every news organisation will in some way make the most of it.

In fact it has already started,the Independent leading with the story that

Independent and selective state grammar schools are overwhelmingly responsible for the rise in A-grade passes at A-level, the head of Britain's biggest exams board reveals today. The growing divide in achievement means the gap in performance between the country's top-performing selective schools - state and private - and the rest is now at its widest for more than a decade. The trend is expected to be exacerbated following the publication of A-level results for more than 250,000 sixth-formers this morning.

And the Times and the Telegraph running stories about how the exams are being devalued.

UPDATE 10.02

Sky news are broadcasting live from a college in Manchester as students collect their envelopes,so far all those interviewed have A's.Sky repport that now 25.4% of grades are A's