Peterborough teenagers face nervous wait for exam results day with a difference

A-Level results will be released on Thursday, with GCSEs and other year 11 qualifications released one week later.

Some schools will be opening for pupils to come in and collect results, as they have in previous years, but strict social distancing measures will be in place to keep the event COVID safe.

But as well as results day having a different feel, the way the qualifications have been run has been different this year, with most pupils not being able to attend school during lockdown.

For 2020 teachers have been asked by Ofqual to make a judgement of the grade they believe a student would have achieved had they sat their exams as normal this year.

This includes taking into account homework assignments, mock exams and any other recorded pieces of the student’s performance.

Teachers are also asked to rank students within each grade in order to provide more information for the standardisation process

Exam boards will then standardise the judgements once grades have been submitted. This will be done using a computer model drawing on: The previous results from that school or college; The previous grades of that year’s students within the school or college; The expected national grade for the subject, considering the grades of that year across the country.

Jonathan Lewis, Director of Education for Cambridgeshire County and Peterborough City Councils, said, “It goes without saying that our teachers and school-aged children have faced a time like no other, with 2020 not exactly following the standard format of an academic year, to say the least. The changes and uncertainly has been felt by those were due to sit GCSE and A Level exams, and also by the teachers who would be leading them through it.

I want to thank all our school and academy leaders, and all pupils involved in exams this year, for their dedication and willingness to adapt to what has been a changing situation. I know it hasn’t been easy.”

Students will have the opportunity to resit their exams if they feel their grade is unfair and will be able to discuss this further direct with their school on results day.