An A-level student from Kyiv whose father is serving on the front line has achieved four A grades – while helping Ukrainian refugees here in the UK.

Zorian Tytych, 18, left his home country before Russia invaded in February and studied physics, maths, biology, and chemistry at Cardiff Sixth Form College.

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He has now won a place at Durham University by getting 4 As, after joining hundreds of thousands of pupils across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland who opened their results today.

A record 425,830 students will be taking up a place at a UK university this year, as the overall pass rate stayed above pre-pandemic levels despite a drop on 2020 and 2021 results.

While here, Zorian has been volunteering as a translator, assisting Ukrainian refugees staying with host families.

He has also been translating for the Armed Forces, helping some 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers receiving training in the UK.

Zorian said his father, a lawyer, joined the military the day after the war started on 24 February, signing up with the territorial defence and receiving basic training. He is now on active service, stationed on the border with Belarus.

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“He did this because he wanted to protect his home and support his country,” Zorian explained.

“My cousin is doing the same and is now based near Kherson, where he is right in the thick of it and all the shelling. My uncle is currently in the recruitment process for joining the army.”

Zorian said he cannot think “too deeply” about what his father is going through because it would “drive me mad with worry”.

He added: “But I am very proud of him. I cannot think about it too much as it just makes me really concerned.”

His mother evacuated to Lviv in western Ukraine, but has since returned to Kyiv after Russian forces retreated from the capital city.

Zorian had plenty of company in studying maths, as it remains the most popular subject, making up 11.3% of all entries at A-level, while English saw a fall in entries this year.

The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) said girls continued to outperform boys overall, with A* to E grades at 98.7% for the former, compared with 98.1% for the latter.

However, results show that the trend is less pronounced this year, with boys closing the gap in A* grades and in the proportion of those who got A or higher.

‘It’s all a bit of a blur now how I got through it’

A student who stopped studying following the death of his brother, and worked as a care assistant, has won a place at university to study medicine.

Aaran Freemantle, from Southampton, achieved Bs in maths and biology and a C in physics after studying at Peter Symonds College in Winchester.

The 19-year-old will now go on to Southampton University under a scheme to widen participation in medicine.

Aaran first began college in 2019, but withdrew after four months following the death of his 26-year-old brother Daniel.

He then worked through the pandemic after taking a job as a care assistant at a home for the elderly. He recommenced his studies in September 2020 and carried on working in the evenings.

“It’s all a bit of a blur now how I got through it,” he said. “You just go to college, do your homework, went to work in the evening, went to sleep and repeat. You just get on and do it.

“I’m not a motivated person, but someone who does what needs to be done.”

He is the first person in his family to go to university and his parents are “extremely proud” of him, he said.

“They never went to college, or my two sisters and three brothers.”

‘It’s nice to start our own life separately’

Twin sisters with perfect A-level results are going to use their success as an opportunity to spend some time apart.

Elena and Rosa Launder, 18, each achieved three A* grades – and will be heading to different universities.

Elena will study biological sciences at Exeter after getting top marks in biology, Spanish, and product design.

Rosa is off to Edinburgh to study architecture after completing A-levels in French, maths and product design.

“We didn’t want to go to the same university,” said Rosa. “We’ve been together for so long, and we’ll see each other in the holidays.”

Elena commented: “It’s nice to start our own life separately, nice to have our own universities.”

The sisters, who are half English and Dutch, may end up back together, though. Both have an interest in property design and development.

“We’ve talked about maybe starting something together in the future and see where we end up,” Rosa said.

“We are open to anything, and we’ve got similar styles, so why not?”

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