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The 2020 cohort have had a terrible time and - without a hint of hyperbole - my heart breaks for them. First, their exams were cancelled, and with it they ceded any control of the outcome. (A thread from an Academic Deputy who cares about their pupils)
Second, they lost their opportunity to have traditional last days and celebrate this right of passage with dear friends who - for some in our school - have grown up, studied, laughed and cried together since they were 3 years old.
Third, they forfeited the usual ‘grad ball’ style events where teachers, their pupils and their parents come together in recognition of the closing of a chapter in their education journey and the opening of another.
While these things may sound inconsequential given what else is going on in the world, they are ‘rights of passage’ which linger in the individual and collective memory for decades to come.
I cannot tell you how extremely proud I am of our Upper Sixth who have dealt with everything with such agility, tenacity, grit, good grace and humour. It had been genuinely humbling to witness up close.
To suffer further injustices at the hands of the exam boards, their regulator, government, and an algorithm not fit for purpose and which overlooked the individuals it effected is unfathomable.
They have also had to suffer from a confused and contradictory communication strategy of apologies, no apologies and the picking up of the metaphorical goalposts and moving them to the adjacent field.
They have seen university places, and with it, imagined futures which were the zenith of years of hard work, disappear in minutes.
They been told they can appeal, but that schools don’t yet fully understand what that looks like. Frustration abounds.
They’ve been abandoned by some universities who are not honouring the pledge to keep places open until 7th of September while they wait for appeals which could take much longer.
They have faced agonising descisions about whether to accept a clearing place or whether, instead, to wait for the outcome of an as-yet-defined appeal which means, if unsuccessful, they could lose everything and have to wait a year to begin their university careers.
They are in direct competition with pupils from Scotland whose government, after a significant time lag and bombast, ensured that their results were more fair and closer to expectations.
If you are one of the courageous pupils in my school or any other school know this: people in your school are fighting hard you now.
We are working 14 hour days to make sure you get the futures you deserve. We are spending every available moment working on how to appeal the grades you’ve been given and, as such,” negotiating a system which is complex, changing, chaotic and ill thought through.
As other school leaders, I am committed to do all I can for you. I send my admiration to each and everyone of you. It’s safe to say, the past few days have been the most challenging and frustrating in my career.
Cohort 2020: we need you to help keep these injustices at the front of the national consciousness and I hope you follow the lead taken by your Scottish peers as you ‘bang the drum as loudly as you can’. You need and deserve to be heard.
Keep fighting and don’t give up. Because your teachers stand with you, albeit virtually or at a safe distance. We will fight hard and be relentless in our pursuit of the fairest possible outcome. I promise.
