Where are the jumping girls of A-level results day now?

Every year, around the middle of August, national newspapers descend on the loveliest schools of our fair isle, and take elaborately choreographed photographs of students looking very happy about their A-level results and blindingly bright futures.

These plucky young things have their day in the sun, but what happens next?

We tracked down last year’s “jumping girls of A-level results” who appeared in the Daily Star last August. Meet Camilla, Izzy, Sophie and Katie (x2) who all attended Redland High in Bristol.

Camilla Baker, Katie Woods, Izzy Bentley, Sophie Crane, Katie Hurse

The girls’ memories from the day is that getting their photo taken didn’t take too long, around 15 minutes, but the cameraman made them do lots of jumping in different poses.

Katie Hurse has just finished her first year studying English and Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham with a 2:1 and recalls how genuine the photos were in capturing the moment: “We were all really happy with our grades so that was genuine, but I remember us being slightly embarrassed about all the jumping shots.

“Before I opened my results I was incredibly nervous. I had an unconditional university offer so the actual grades technically didn’t matter, but I was really keen to do well. I did much better than I was hope to so I was amazed.”

In the future Katie’s dream is to be an author, but is also interested in a career in either journalism, publishing or PR.

Sophie Crane adds that after the photographer who snapped the above image was finished taking photos, her Dad asked to take some as well. Sophie admits that it was quite an embarrassing moment: “[He] made us all jump over again for him as well. We were all happy with our results but the jumping took it out of us by the end.”

Sophie reminisces about a sleepless night before the big day, staying up refreshing the UCAS website to see if she had got in to university. “I went into school to collect my results knowing that I’d got a place at uni so that took the stress out of the morning a bit.”

She is now a Medicine student at Manchester, about to start her second year: “I love Manchester, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Sophie is now enjoying student life at the University of Manchester

“To be honest for us being photographed was as cringey and awkward as the pictures suggest,” says Katie Woods, “apart from the obligatory high school musical jumps we were not made to do anything else.”

Katie also says that they weren’t able to avoid the inevitability of “being a part of ‘every white middle class girl you’ve ever wanted to see jumping on results day’.”

Katie is currently studying Psychological and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and says that it has “been the best year of my life by far.” She offers up some pearls of wisdom after her first year of uni: “Uni provides so many new opportunities that school just can’t compete with! Any club you can possibly think of from Quidditch to the chocolate appreciation society.”

Katie Hurse sums up what the snap that made the national press truly represents: “We were all very emotional, too, because it was our last time all being at school together before we left for University.”

Some of the girls back together again after their first year of university