There will be tears of joy and disappointment as teenagers across the district receive their A level results today (Thursday).

And education chiefs are expecting another record breaking year for schools and colleges across the county.

Mike Barnett, Essex County Council's education spokesman, said: "A Level results in Essex are higher than in any other county in East Anglia and have been improving every year for the past five years. We are looking for still further improvement this year.

"Certainly, a great deal of that success has been down to the particularly high standards in local schools. That's why places are so eagerly sought after. We expect another record breaking year for A levels."

Last year, Brentwood schools showed themselves to be among the very best in the country, and there were also some outstanding individual performances.

They are now so popular with parents that they are heavily oversubscribed.

Meanwhile the Anglia Polytechnic University, which has a campus at Chelmsford, is preparing for the annual rush of enquiries as students go through the 'clearing' process to find themselves a university place.

Marketing director Roy Newson said: "This year we expect a record number of calls to our hotline as students battle to make sense of their study options.

"By the end of clearing we hope that APU will have attracted as many students as possible of the right grades and/or experience to fit the courses available."

The APU hotline, open from today, is on 0845 271 4444 and gives students the chance to talk to trained clearing advisors. Students can also email clearing@apu.ac.uk and find information about courses and vacancies at www.apu.ac.uk

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