Pupil farewell after schools shut early
FREE PRESS REPORTER
‘
I WOULD rather be doing my GCSEs’. Those were the words of a Year 11 student who left her school for the last time on Friday, after the gates were shut nationwide in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson also confirmed colleges and nurseries would be asked to follow suit.
But children of key workers and pupils classed as vulnerable were to carry on attending, if they had no alternative.
Pupils will not take their GCSE and A-Level exams as planned during the summer.
Schools across the borough had to bid a hurried ‘ farewell’ to Year 11 pupils and, in some cases, sixth formers too.
Haslingden High School arranged a leavers’ assembly at two days’ notice.
Beth Hartwell, 15, said: “It just doesn’t feel right. I would rather be doing my GCSEs.
“It is very sad and everyone has reacted in a different way. It is my last day at school because I am going on to study A level biology, chemistry and PE at Xaverian College in Manchester.”
The usual buffet was not possible, but teachers managed to order iced doughnuts for all the Year 11s. Students brought gifts in for staff and they took the opportunity to sign each other’s school shirts and brought books in for teachers to sign.
Head of year Laura Dickinson said: “They have been a very hard working year group and they have put so much into their GCSEs, but they may not get that acknowledgement.
“It is surreal, it is upsetting and disappointing and everything is so uncertain.
“The last day of school is important and it is something that the students never forget; yes there are tears but they are tears of joy.”
Edwina Grant OBE, Lancashire County Council’s executive director for education, said: “I understand that this is a really difficult situation, and that there will be disruption due to the schools being closed, apart from a small number of children, but I hope that parents and carers realise that this is a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of infection.”