There's hugs all round this morning as students across the country open their GCSE results after a tough two years of learning disrupted by Covid.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Getty Images

When lots of your friends might be going on to study A-levels, it can seem like the only option - but there are plenty of alternatives.

In England, students can take T-levels instead, which last two years and are roughly equivalent to three A-Levels.

They have been designed with employers to help prepare students for work in specific industries.

T-Level students do a lot of their learning in schools and colleges like other academic courses, but they also get at least 45 days of industry placement.

You could also think about doing an apprenticeship, which also combines learning with workplace experience but with much more emphasis on the latter.

Apprentices get paid a salary as they spend 80% of their time in the workplace, while getting trained up.

Other options include going straight into full-time work or an internship.

The National Careers Service, external has more information.

At the Deanery Church of England High School in Wigan, Gino, 16, said he was excited and very happy with himself.

“I’m feeling very humbled as I didn’t expect to get the grades I got today.”

He is now hoping to go on and do A-levels and a BTec course in design engineering.

Melissa, 16, said it went a lot better than she thought it would.

"I’m very happy with what I got - 8s and 9s mostly."

Leyton, 15, said he found the exams tough but today is a good day.

“In some of the subjects, I got higher than I expected. I got all my grades for college so couldn’t ask for anymore really.”

Didn’t sleep last night? Feeling sick this morning?

Results day can be really stressful.

There are things you can do to help though, and the BBC’s Dr Radha Modgil has some top tips:

Be proud of yourself

Reflect on all the challenges you've overcome these past few years. No matter what your results are, you absolutely deserve to be proud of yourself for getting this far. Stop, take a moment, write down a list of all of your achievements – say well done to yourself.

Pick a support crew

Choose who you want to have around you when you receive your results – choose calm, kind and supportive people who you feel comfortable with.

Don’t give in to social media pressure

Take your time – you don’t have to announce your results to everyone. If you need some time away from conversations on social media, then have it.

Read more tips from Dr Radha here.

Schools Minister Will Quince has encouraged any student who is disappointed today not to panic, as there have never been more options for if results don't quite go to plan.

Speaking to Sky News, he said he got 6 As and 4 Bs at GCSE level, but his A-levels didn’t go quite so well.

He said the government is trying to tackle the attainment gap and regional disparities in education across the country.

In some areas of the country “we find it challenging to attract and recruit teachers, especially high quality teachers” he says - adding that wherever you live you should be able to access "world-class" education and achieve your potential.

Shona Elliott
Reporting from Wigan

Bleary-eyed Year 11s, eager to receive the outcome of their GCSE results, are filing into the canteen at The Deanery Church of England High School in Wigan to pick their results up.

As students greet their friends, teachers are busy reassuring worried parents that - whatever the outcome today - it’ll be OK and there are lots of options if things don't go to plan.

The secondary school’s deputy head teacher, Leanne Turner, is determined that today should be viewed as a celebration.

“These children have been through so much," she says.

"The fact that they are even here two-and-a-half years after the pandemic started ready to receive GCSE results is a testament to how resilient they have been. Today should feel like a celebration."

Hundreds of thousands of teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are now getting their individual results from their schools and colleges.

The exams they sat this summer were the first in three years after the disruption cause by the coronavirus pandemic.

We’ll bring you reactions as pupils find out how they’ve got on - and a reminder we’ll find out the nationwide picture a little later this morning from 09:30.

Shona Elliott

Chelsea is hoping for top grades when she opens her envelope of results this morning, to help increase her chances of getting into university to study medicine in two years’ time.

“I want to get 7, 8 and 9s to gain offers from major universities like Manchester - even Oxford,” says the 16-year-old at the Deanery Church of England High School in Wigan.

While this years’ students will be graded more generously than last time exams were sat in 2019, there will not be as many top grades as last year when results were decided by teachers’ assessments.

“I want to be able to boost up my grades so high I can do the career I have always wanted to do,” Chelsea says.

“I am not letting anything stop me.”

Image source, Jacqueline Williamson

About 235,000 BTec Firsts, Technicals and Tech Award grades will be released today - but some may not get their results as expected.

The exam board Pearson warned yesterday that 7,000 students were still "ineligible to receive their grade".

It says it has "a dedicated team" working to get any outstanding information and will provide any missing results "as quickly as possible".

It's understood some students could be deemed "ineligible" for a grade because some of their marks are not logged in the system due to processing issues, or - in some instances - because the pupil has decided not to continue with their BTec studies.

The Department for Education says it is continuing to work with the exam regulator, Ofqual, to resolve the problem, but school leaders' union NAHT says it's causing "unnecessary anxiety and stress" as young people try to confirm their places at sixth forms and colleges.

Jacqueline Williamson from Washington, in Tyne and Wear, was worried when her daughter Sian was affected by delays to BTec Level 3 results last week. Now she fears her son, Owen Wright, 16, may be affected too.

Read more on this story here.

Elaine Dunkley
BBC education correspondent

It’s really important to remember the context around today.

GCSEs are the first major exams that young people take and the class of 2022 has had to sit them at a time of unprecedented disruption to the education system.

There were lockdowns, remote learning and teachers and pupils being sent home with Covid. They didn’t get to see friends and family and were taken out of the routine of school.

It’s been an incredibly challenging and also really frightening time for a lot of children.

When you take all of these things into account you start to recognise the enormity of what children have been through to get to the exam hall - not just academically, but mentally and emotionally.

Shona Elliott

Callum, who is 16 and studied at the Deanery Church of England High School in Wigan, has big plans for life after he opens his GCSE results today.

The promising footballer has landed an apprenticeship with Wigan Athletic Academy and has already started studying for his BTec Level 3 in Elite Sports.

“I want to do as well as I can just in case the football doesn’t work out - I want to have something to fall back on,” he says.

Quietly confident about his results, Callum has a message for his fellow students nervously awaiting results.

“I think it’s really important to not only worry about your grades but worry about yourself and worry about your mental health,” he says.

“Make sure you are on top of it because at the end of the day, you are going to do better if you are feeling good about it.”

Image source, Getty Images

Pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will start getting their GCSE results from 08.00 BST.

Many students will head into school to pick up their results, and some will get them online.

At 09.30, we’ll get a full national picture of how students have done.

Some BTec Firsts, Technical and Tech Awards results are also being released today, although exam board Pearson has suggested some of these could be delayed.

In response to the disruption the pandemic has had on learning, GCSE grade boundaries are more lenient this year than they were pre-Covid.

And as extra help in some subjects, students were given detail on which topics to revise, and were allowed to use formulae sheets in the exam hall.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage as pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland get their results for the first GCSE exams since the Covid pandemic.

At 9.30, we’ll find out the nationwide picture of results, and how they compare with previous years.

It's expected that overall results will be lower than the last two years of record-hightop grades - but higher than 2019.

Stick with us to follow the latest news, results and reaction from around the UK.