HUNDREDS of East Lancashire students will get their exam results online this month thanks to a pioneering hi-tech system.

This year, for the first time, exam board Edexcel will be posting A level and GCSE results online, meaning students will be able to view them from 6am on August 16 and 23 respectively.

The service uses a password system to allow them to find out their results from anywhere in the world.

The move could mean the end of the traditional en masse trip into school to open results envelopes there.

It has been cautiously welcomed by schools, who say pupils should still come in on the day for staff support as results will not always be what they had expected.

Fourteen East Lancashire secondary schools have signed up for Edexcel's ResultsPlus Direct service - Westholme, Pleckgate, St Wilfrid's, Witton Park High and Al Islah in Blackburn, Darwen Vale, Unity College in Burnley, Ribblesdale, Bowland, St Augustine's in the Ribble Valley, Norden in Rishton, Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, Rossendale School, and Darul Uloom Al Arabiya Al Islamiya in Holcombe Brook.

The company is one of several awarding bodies used by secondary schools, so currently students will only be able to find out part of their results online, as other subjects will be by a different exam board.

But if the scheme proves popular it seems likely that other boards will follow suit.

Michele Emptage, deputy head of Westholme School, which takes in students from across East Lancashire, said: "Only a small number will be able to access their results online because only maths and music departments use Edexcel for their A levels.

"But it is surely only a matter of time before all exam boards do it."

As well as their results, Edexcel's 'Gradeometer' will tell students how close they were to the nearest grade boundary and will offer online access to advice and support about future options.

But Ms Emptage said school support was still vital.

She said: "We are there to offer reassurance and advice and the backing you can't really get from a computer."