The Religious Education Council congratulates all those students who have achieved their Religious Studies A Level grades today and wishes them well in their future studies and careers.

This year 18,463 students sat the A Level RS examination in England –increases of 4.3% on the previous year and 31.2% since 2005.  Standards continue to rise with 80.4% of students gaining A* - C (the prime benchmark) – an increase of 2.2% on last year.  Clearly Religious Studies has continued to grow and flourish at A Level.

The Russell Group of universities recognise Religious Studies as a subject which provides suitable preparation for entry to university generally. The only reason it has not been included in their list of facilitating subjects appears to be because, like Economics and Law, it is not an “essential” requirement for entry to any particular university course.