A teenager has secured her place at Durham University with string of top grades, despite battling long Covid for much of her final year.

Lowena Olver got A* A-levels in art, English and history, along with an A* in her extended project qualification and will now read English Literature.

She’ll be travelling across the country from her home in Truro, Cornwall, to take her place at the prestigious institution.

Lowena, 18, also overcame a crippling back condition she was diagnosed with at 14.

During her time at The Truro High School for Girls, she ran the student newspaper, choreographed the school’s dance show, wrote and illustrated a book about mental health for children and worked as a peer mentor for younger students.

‘I just feel slightly numb. I am so happy,’ she said. ‘Truro High has been a home to us all, a home where we come to learn and where we are all accepted for who we are so we never have to worry about anything except doing our best.’

Her mother, Lynn, added: ‘Truro High is just such an amazing place and it has been an extraordinary experience for her.

‘She has been so supported in what is essentially a big welcoming family. We could not have asked for more.’

Pupils have been receiving their A-Level results today after all exams were cancelled for the second year in a row due to the pandemic.

Teachers were responsible for giving pupils their grades and almost half have come back as an A or A* – an all-time high.

Meanwhile, at St Mary’s Calne in Wiltshire, two sets of twins achieved top grades to win places to study at university in both the UK and US.

Kunmi and Yimika Adesola got a clean sweep of A*s between them and are set to read international relations at King’s College London and political science at Columbia University respectively.

Sam Glover is also heading to the US, to study at Villanova Business School in Pennsylvania while her sister Cate will be reading economics and management at King’s College London.

At Millfield School in Somerset, a young gifted mathematician, Yuhka Machino, has achieved four A*s in chemistry, mathematics, further mathematics and physics.

Yuhka, from Japan, joined Millfield Prep School in Year 6, and was recently recognised as the world’s top female school-age mathematician for the second year in a row at this year’s International Maths Olympiad.

Nineteen-year-old Sharmin Seco, from Horfield, Bristol, has won a place at the University of Bath to study business after achieving an A in accounting, an A* in business, an A in economics and an A in her extended project qualification.

The teenager, who is originally from Mozambique, finished her Year 11 studies in India and completed GCSEs in English and maths before starting A-levels at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.

‘I am very happy to achieve my dream of studying at the University of Bath and this couldn’t be possible without the support I received from my teachers at SGS College,’ she said.

‘They have been absolutely exceptional and brilliant and even more during Covid times. SGS will always be a part of me, and I cannot wait to start my next chapter.’

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