with widespread disruption for passengers. the un secretary general meets ukraine s president for talks he says he s gravely concerned about safety at a nuclear power plant that s now in russian hands. joe fraser becomes the first british man to take gold in the european gymnastics final. and coming up on the bbc news channel. ben stokes helps limit the damage as england claw back wickets on the second day of the 1st test against south africa at lords, following a disappointing first innings. good evening. there s been delight but also disappointment on results day for hundreds of thousands of teenagers across england, wales and northern ireland who ve had their studies severely disrupted by the pandemic. almost 850,000 a levels were taken this year, when pupils did sit exams again. as you can see here, the proportion of top grades has fallen compared with 2020 and 2021 which are marked here in red that was when teacher assessments were used instead of exams because
And up and up. and the knowledge that if i didn t have to spend all of this money on just having a roof over my head. you know, it s about two thirds of my student loan go straight to rent. i don t see a penny of it. if i didn t have to spend that much, then, actually, i wouldn t be worrying about using a food bank. the national union of students told us many other students are struggling as rents are rising faster than loans. ok, so quick life update. i got assigned my accommodation. it s in a place i m really happy with. i ve done my deposit. now all i can focus on is just packing for university. while aisling is sorted, some other students are still going through clearing. some universities, but not all, say they can guarantee accommodation. branwenjefferies, bbc news, manchester.
They can guarantee accommodation. branwenjefferies, bbc news, manchester. it isa it is a situation that will chime with lots of students. we rejoined by chloe field, the vice president for higher education at the national union of students. in students. previous academic years we have talked in previous academic years we have talked about a problem. how much worse is it this year? i talked about a problem. how much worse is it this year? worse is it this year? i think it is a lot worse worse is it this year? i think it is a lot worse with worse is it this year? i think it is a lot worse with different - worse is it this year? i think it is | a lot worse with different factors due to the cost of living but also universities are increasing student intake by multiple folds and they do not have the capacity. they invite the students, to cell than the dream of going to university but they are not getting allocated accommodation. i guess a lot of students will spend a lot of time workin
And save up money. i want everyone to eat free at school. so then they re happy and all the families are happy. the christmas story plays out in schools across england this week, even here, where children learn about many faiths different from their own. this winter, simple human kindness is lighting the way for this school. branwenjefferies, bbc news, bradford. it story. great story. budding spies are in for a treat today because the intelligence agency gchq has released a set of codebreaking puzzles for youngsters to solve.the seven challenges are designed to test and develop the same skills that real life agents use and to encourage children from all backgrounds to consider a career in the intelligence services. tim muffett went to a school in london to see if the pupils