AN ASPIRING actress from Shipley has described feeling a mix of happiness and "confusion" following the Government's sudden U-turn on A-level and GCSE grades.

When 18-year-old Martha Edwards opened up her results last Thursday, she was left crying "more than she ever has before".

The student, who attended St Bede’s & St Joseph’s Catholic College in Heaton, had feared her future dreams had been dashed after she was unable to access a drama degree at universities in Manchester or Birmingham.

The algorithm-style system had meant Martha was downgraded from her predicted grades of AAB to ABC.

In her frustration, she penned a moving letter to Gavin Williamson, the Secretary of State for Education, setting out fierce criticisms that had been expressed by many pupils around the UK.

But after backlash from students, headteachers and many Tory MPs, grades will now be based on teachers' assessments rather than the controversial algorithm devised by regulator Ofqual.

Read more: 'We are extremely sorry for uncertainty and anxiety'

Mr Johnson, who is on holiday in Scotland, held crisis talks with Mr Williamson and senior officials on Monday morning.

The change will also apply to GCSE results in England, which are due to be released on Thursday.

Speaking to the Telegraph & Argus after the news was revealed, Martha said: "I'm initially happy but I just don't know whether this means because they haven't really outlined what's happening with uni. I don't expect my university to get in touch with me soon.

"I'm happy but still a bit confused.

"I've not got any idea what's going to happen. I'm really happy. Hopefully some people will get their uni places out of this but just waiting for details before I can trust myself to be happy about it."

Martha had gone viral online after she poured her emotions out to the education minister, leading to some contacts in the industry and promises of work opportunities.

Read more: Exam U-turn Social: 'Finally some sense. All it took was a public outcry'

“It’s just made me more determined to do what I want,” she said.

In the letter, Martha wrote: “In all those assemblies I attended in the school hall, I was always told that, through hard work, my dreams were possible. I have been made a better person by attending a school where there are people who believe in me and I am proud to have been a student there. Does none of that matter to you? I was never told in those assemblies that my parents had to be rich in order for me to attend the top universities. I was never told that my postcode mattered. Where did you put that in the mark scheme? How much money would it have taken for me to be acceptable to you? Enough to fund an Eton education? How much money should I have had in order to get the university place I deserved?

“I am furious. You have stolen the future that I had shaped for myself with my tears and with late nights of school work. You have pushed aside my incredible teachers who have invested their time and effort in making me a better student. I am not speaking from self interest when I say that I deserved AAB, as my teachers told you. I speak as a girl who has worked hard for the past seven years to reach this point and who has cried more in the past two days than she ever has before. I speak as someone who has been rejected from the top universities she applied to. I speak as a girl who cried when her teachers told her there was nothing they could do because my results were higher than my mocks but not high enough to secure my university place. I also speak as the student who will be proud for the rest of her life that she was Head Girl of her school. You will never take that pride from me. 

"I will forge a new future for myself although I am devastated by what you have done to me."