The man who works behind the scene to make sure everything goes smoothly on A-level results day has described the “buzz” of his day at the office.

Tower Hamlets Council’s data and statistics manager James Coumbe collates all the results from the East End’s schools to draw conclusions about the borough’s performance.

“There’s a bit of a buzz on the day itself because our senior managers and elected members want to know the results as soon as possible,” he said.

“Some schools are quicker than others; quite rightly schools are focused on giving their students the results before telling us.”

The results sent back to James on the day allow the council to draw provisional conclusions about schools’ performance. But it has to wait until January for official figures to be released from the government’s department for education.

James admits he looks forward with baited breath for results day so he can see how performance compares to previous years.

“It’s pretty exciting because you are waiting to discover whether or not we have improved on previous years.

“For the schools themselves it’s a key day but as days in the office go, for me it’s pretty interesting!” he added.