A Level results day in Halton will look a little different this year as social distancing rules mean the usual crowds of celebrating sixth formers will be absent from the borough’s schools.

With results day taking place this Thursday, schools have put a variety of measures in place to allow pupils to collect their A Level grades safely.

On top of the changes to the format of results day, A Levels themselves have also had to change in response to the pandemic and students will be collecting results for exams that did not actually take place.

Instead, grades will be awarded based on a formula using mock exam grades, classwork, non-exam assessments and any other relevant evidence. Teachers will use this information to rank their students and calculate their grades.

These grades will then be moderated by the exam board depending on how the school has performed overall in recent years – a process that has caused major controversy in Scotland with students in less affluent areas being marked down more harshly than those in richer places.

The grades awarded this year will have equal status to grades in previous years and should also be treated the same way as they always have been by universities, colleges and employers.

How to collect your results Some pupils will not be able to collect their results in person at all, with Cronton Sixth Form College coordinating the whole day remotely.

But even those schools where pupils are being allowed to physically pick up their results have had to adapt to the demands of the coronavirus pandemic.

At Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy in Runcorn, pupils have been divided up into groups of 10 and given a specific time slot to come and get their results.

There will be a one-way system in place and only one parent or carer per child is allowed in the building, although others are free to wait outside.

Students at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College are also being allowed to collect their results in person, although further details have not yet been published.