Thorpe

Thorpe Park is inviting students to mark this milestone with an unforgettable, thrill-fuelled experience. And with summer hours in full swing, the fun lasts until 7pm

Thorpe Park is turning GCSE results day into an A-grade celebration, with the first 25 students through the gates on Thursday, 21 August receiving free entry and Coaster Fastrack.

Come this Thursday, the brave GCSE exam takers of Britain will learn their fate. Will they be among the cheerful crew jumping for joy at their hard-earned top marks, or will their envelope contain disappointing news?

Whichever the case, there’s an easy way to turn the day around. Class of ’25 school leavers are invited to trade textbooks for thrills and celebrate the end of exams at Thorpe Park. It comes as Spanish islands fear Brits won’t return as tourists are dealt another blow.

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Whether it’s launching into summer at 80mph on Stealth, getting a splash of excitement on Tidal Wave, or taking a victory lap on Hyperia, Thorpe Park is packed with enough stomach-churning drops and spine-tingling loops to make it the perfect post-exam escape.

Thorpe Park is inviting students to mark this milestone with an unforgettable, thrill-fuelled experience. And with summer hours in full swing, the fun lasts until 7pm. To qualify, students must show proof of their GCSE results at the gate.

A spokesperson for Thorpe Park said: “No matter what your results say, you’ve put in the hard work, and that deserves a celebration. We’re here to recognise your effort, applaud your achievements, and give you the ultimate day out to reward yourself in style.”

For those who haven’t just completed their GCSEs but still fancy both a day out and a bargain, then your’e in luck.

National Rail has an excellent, money-saving scheme which delivers big savings on attractions across the UK. There is money off close to 500 different venues and events, so there’s a really good chance that there’ll be a bargain on offer in your neck of the woods.

You can score savings including two-for-one deals and a third-off entry to top attractions in and around Great Britain. To claim, you just have to take the train. The scheme is designed to encourage people to get out of cars and onto the rails, a mode of transport that tends to be better for the environment.

To take advantage of the discounts on offer, head to the National Rail website and choose an attraction. Then, download and print the vouchers you find there and use them to buy a ticket at the attraction, or buy a ticket online. Just make sure you save your train ticket to show at the box office.

There are a huge number of attractions taking part, with two-for-one deals on offer at dozens. Including:

• The Shards’ viewing gallery
• The Beatles Story Museum
• Tudor World
• Howletts Wild Animal Park
• Grand Pier Weston-super-Mare
• The Household Cavalry Museum
• Thinktank at Birmingham Science Museum
• The Cartoon Museum
• The Fashion and Textile Museum

Train travellers can also bag a third off many excellent days out. Theme park giant Merlin is taking part and is offering 33.3% off:

• Alton Towers Resort
• Chessington World of Adventures Resort
• Thorpe Park
• Legoland Windsor Resort
• Warwick Castle
• Cadbury World
• The London Eye
• Shrek’s Adventure! London
• Madame Tussauds Blackpool
• The Dungeons (York, Edinburgh, or Blackpool Tower
• The Blackpool Tower Eye
• LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres (Manchester or Birmingham)
• SEA LIFE Aquariums & Centres (Birmingham, Great Yarmouth, Loch Lomond, Blackpool, Brighton, Manchester, Scarborough, Hunstanton and Weymouth SEA LIFE Adventure Park)

Izzy Thorpe and Ranjuo Tomblin have won Great Britain’s first medal of the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

They scored 322.0583 points in the synchronised mixed duet free event to win bronze and claim GB’s first ever medal in the event.

It was a tight contest for a podium place, with just 1.7980 points separating first and third.

Spain’s Dennis Gonzalez Boneu and Iris Tio won gold, while six-time artistic swimming champion Aleksandr Maltsev and partner Olesia Platonova – who are Russian but compete as neutral athletes – took silver.

The British duo had the highest difficulty and execution score in the final despite only competing together once before.

Olympic silver medallist Thorpe and rising-star Tomblin won silver in the mixed duet technical event at the European Championships last month.

They have both enjoyed successful seasons as Tomblin became the first British male to win a European artistic swimming title last year, while Thorpe won GB’s first synchronised medal at the Olympics in Paris 2024.

Alton Towers Resort, Chessington World of Adventures Resort, Thorpe Park, Legoland Windsor Resort, Warwick Castle, Cadbury World and The London Eye are among those offering money off

If you are wondering what to do with your kids as the summer holiday approaches, wonder no more.

National Rail has an excellent, money-saving scheme which delivers big savings on attractions across the UK. There is money off close to 500 different venues and events, so there’s a really good chance that there’ll be a bargain on offer in your neck of the woods.

You can score savings including two-for-one deals and a third-off entry to top attractions in and around Great Britain. To claim, you just have to take the train.

The scheme is designed to encourage people to get out of cars and onto the rails, a mode of transport that tends to be better for the environment.

READ MORE: Brits urged to check key passport detail to avoid holiday disruption

To take advantage of the discounts on offer, head to the National Rail website and choose an attraction. Then, download and print the vouchers you find there and use them to buy a ticket at the attraction, or buy a ticket online. Just make sure you save your train ticket to show at the box office.

There are a huge number of attractions taking part, with two-for-one deals on offer at dozens. Including:

• The Shards’ viewing gallery
• The Beatles Story Museum
• Tudor World
• Howletts Wild Animal Park
• Grand Pier Weston-super-Mare
• The Household Cavalry Museum
• Thinktank at Birmingham Science Museum
• The Cartoon Museum
• The Fashion and Textile Museum

Train travellers can also bag a third off many excellent days out. Theme park giant Merlin is taking part and is offering 33.3% off:

• Alton Towers Resort
• Chessington World of Adventures Resort
• Thorpe Park
• Legoland Windsor Resort
• Warwick Castle
• Cadbury World
• The London Eye
• Shrek’s Adventure! London
• Madame Tussauds Blackpool
• The Dungeons (York, Edinburgh, or Blackpool Tower
• The Blackpool Tower Eye
• LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres (Manchester or Birmingham)
• SEA LIFE Aquariums & Centres (Birmingham, Great Yarmouth, Loch Lomond, Blackpool, Brighton, Manchester, Scarborough, Hunstanton and Weymouth SEA LIFE Adventure Park)

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If you love bargains and want to protect the environment, then there are other schemes that are worth checking out. Good Journey is a not-for-profit, sustainable travel company that is trying to change the way the world travels.

Championing car-free leisure travel across the UK, the independent organisation founded by Nat Taplin launched in 2018, with the support of a coalition of conservation and transport organisations. Good Journey actively promotes green travel and is built on the ethos of widening sustainable visitor travel across the UK and to broaden access to culture, heritage and leisure to everyone — not just those with a car.

According to Good Journey, around half of all CO2 emissions from tourist attractions come from visitors’ cars. Getting more visitors to arrive by bus, train, bike, or foot is therefore key to cutting those carbon emissions. The non-profit organization also hopes to open up access for the 22 percent of UK households without a car (roughly 15 million people).

The Good Journey website currently features more than 500 attractions across England, Wales and Scotland that you can reach car-free, each with detailed travel instructions and a door-to-door journey planner to the point where whether walking routes have pavements or even bus shelters to take refuge if it’s raining, are pointed out.

Available kid’s activities, places for shelter in case of bad weather, and views to look out for on your walk or train ride are also meticulously pointed out. The website can be used to search for discounted train tickets and quieter cycling routes as well.