Relief for students as they celebrate GCSE exam results after marks fiasco
YEAR 11 pupils across Wales received their GCSE results yesterday, after what has been an unprecedented year for them and their schools.
Exam results for many students were delivered virtually due to the ongoing pandemic, while others students were able to collect their results from school and take part in socially distanced celebrations at school.
One of the schools where pupils enjoyed socially distanced celebrations was Cwmtawe Community School in Pontardawe, where around three quarters of Year 11 pupils achieved five or more good GCSEs including the core subjects of English, mathematics and science. In addition, more than a quarter achieved five or more GCSEs at A* or A grade.
“I’m really relieved to be honest. Because of the toing and froing we were not sure which way our exams would be marked,” said head girl Ellie Sanders, 16, of Ystalyfera, who celebrated 10A*s, AA in science and A in RE.
“When we heard it would be done by our teachers it was a really big relief. I think they were changing it all the time so rapidly, in the back of your mind you were thinking you could wake up this morning and they could say ‘we’re not doing that anymore’. I woke up this morning thinking, ‘is it still the same?”
“I’m really happy it worked the way it did, the teachers know what we are capable of.”
Ellie now plans to head to Neath College to study German, history and sociology.
Fellow Cwmtawe pupil Eve Morgan, 16, of Birchgrove, achieved 9A*s and three As.
She said: “I’m happy I achieved these grades and that that is what the teachers think I am capable of. It means everything to me that the teachers have seen my potential.”
Eve now plans to go to college and study the three sciences and maths.
In Cardiff, pupils at Eastern High were also celebrating great results in spite of the challenging year they have faced.
“I’m happy, I didn’t think I was going to get anywhere near this,” said Abdull Ahmohammad, who was thrilled with his 11 A*s and two As.
“I’ve got a scholarship for Cardiff
Academy, and I want to become a neurosurgeon.”
Talking about not being able to sit exams, he said: “I was stressed out about underperforming. But the teachers knew what I was capable of and predicted the right results.”
Abdull will study maths, chemistry, biology and economics at Cardiff Academy next year.
Fellow Eastern High student Letitia Spear was also beaming with her results, and will also be going on to study A-levels. “I’m really excited to go to St David’s College,” she said.
Letita achieved four A*s and eight As and one B, and after her A-levels she is hoping to study law and psychology at university.
After the strange year GCSE students have had, teachers at Eastern High expressed how happy they were to see students finally able to celebrate their achievements and relax.
Susan Cowan, the deputy head at the school, said: “I think it’s important that we’ve treated them with the respect that they deserve. It’s hard to imagine how difficult it must have been for them without everything [else] going on.
“For these kids, it was such an abrupt shutdown for them. And then to not really know if they were going to do exams or not, and their prom has been taken away. Nobody’s ever experienced this.
“To come here now and see them all settled and happy, I think they all think it’s been fair with the results.”
Given the decision to cancel examinations this summer as a result of the pandemic, exam board WJEC developed a process which allows grades to be based on Centre Assessment Grades and Rank Orders which have been submitted by teachers and lecturers.
On Monday, Education Minister Kirsty Williams confirmed that GCSE grades in Wales would be awarded on the basis of Centre Assessment Grades. It was also announced that an independent review of events following the cancellation of exams will be undertaken.
Ms Williams has said she is “truly... unreservedly sorry” for the initial decision to use an algorithm to standardise GCSE and A-level