The new reformed A-level exam courses have put teachers under “big strain” this year, but teachers have coped “very well.”

That’s according to Lianne Riley-Gough, assistant head of sixth form at The Chalk Hills Academy, in Luton, where Tes visited this morning as pupils arrived to collect their A-level results.

She said: “There is more subject knowledge going into the same amount of time which as you can imagine puts its own strain on the teachers and students.”

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“Reform in all the structure, planning and delivery has occurred as well so a lot has gone on behind the scenes.”

But Ms Riley-Gough, who is her first year in the job, said teachers had coped “very well”.

She said: “It’s obviously a big strain on them but they’ve delivered some good results and got our students where they need to be.”

Students at Chalk Hills were among 300,000 across the country who were picking up results today.

Headteacher Louise Lee said there had been an increase in A* to E grades as well as an improvement in grades in tech’ subjects.

She said: “This has been the culmination of two years hard work irrespective of the myriad of changes that have been introduced in education and we’re really proud and pleased.

“Staff have had to go on a number of courses to make sure they understand changes to the specifications really, really clearly and for students we’ve had to do more on developing the independence of learning.”