STUDENTS in South East Cornwall collecting their GCSE exam results today will receive grades assessed by their teachers in school.
At Looe Community School, nervousness as students arrived to pick up results quickly turned to tears of joy and smiles of relief for most as the youngsters opened their envelopes.
A one-way system was in place and the students had been allocated staggered time slots to arrive. The formality was strange for students and staff alike, but nothing could repress the emotion and desire to share good news as many of the young people discovered they ’had done better than they thought’. For Looe students, whose school doesn’t have a sixth form, today marks the move from secondary school and onto college courses and the next stage of life, and staff came to the school to share the moment, to congratulate their former students, and to offer advice on the next steps to those who were uncertain.
One of the most unusual school years on record – where students stayed at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic and did not sit formal exams – has been followed by a tumultous week at the top level of the education system, and confusion for school leaders and young people. At the last minute, and following the publication of A-level results in which almost 40 percent of results predicted by schools were downgraded by Ofqual’s algorithm, the Department for Education announced that GCSE and A-level grades would be awarded on the basis of Centre Assessed Grades – marks given by teachers on the basis of mock exams and other work done in school prior to March, and internally moderated.
There’ll still be a wait for students who have taken BTecs though: exam regulator Pearson pulled the publication of results for these qualifications, saying it needed to review the grades.
This year’s GCSE pass rate is up to almost 79% - with 78.8% of entries gaining a level 4 or above.