Visits to care homes can restart soon
results, which was abandoned after the unfairness to individual pupils became apparent.
A further update from WJEC on August 19 confirmed that WJEC GCSE, Eduqas GCSE and Welsh Baccalaureate learners will receive the best grade out of their calculated grade or Centre Assessment Grades.
Across Wales yesterday, schools were keen to express how proud they are of GCSE students for their success under such difficult circumstances.
Head of Ysgol Henry Richard in Tregaron, Dorian Pugh, said: “It has been a difficult time for our young people as they have had to finish their time at Ysgol Henry Richard earlier than usual.
“Although they have not had the full opportunity to prove themselves through an exam process, I hope that the pupils will be proud of their results which reflect a committed collaboration between themselves and the school staff.”
In Ebbw Vale, Ebbw Fawr Learning Community headteacher Huw Lloyd stressed that this year’s results are just as valid as any other year.
He said: “We are all relieved and delighted with this year’s GCSE and vocational results. After an incredibly difficult few months for all our learners, we are so pleased that their hard work and dedication has been rewarded.
“It’s important to remember amidst the national headlines that
GCSEs are studied for over a period of years, and the results received will have been based on a myriad of internal and external assessments.
“Also, each result will have been signed off by at least two teachers and the headteacher. Therefore, despite this year’s results being assessed internally they are as valid as any other year, indeed in many respects the process has been more rigorous than sitting a one off exam at the end of a long period of study.
“As a school we are also pleased that the overall school results are firmly in line with pre lockdown predictions, indeed the dreaded algorithm pushed 8% of our Centre Assessed Grades upwards which reflects the rigour of our internal processes.”
INDOOR visits to care homes will be allowed in Wales from Saturday, August 29, subject to strict controls and conditions remaining favourable, First Minister Mark Drakeford, pictured below, will confirm later today.
The First Minister will also say that from tomorrow extended households can expand to include up to four households in an exclusive, extended arrangement.
Weddings and funerals will also be able to include a meal for up to 30 people, in suitably socially distant settings.
However, he will also warn that despite the latest easing of lockdown restrictions in Wales, now is not the time to move away from the careful and cautious approach taken so far.
He will say: “While coronavirus remains effectively suppressed in Wales and cases continue to fall, the situation in the rest of the UK and further afield is still problematic.
“Coronavirus has not gone away and so, as we move out of lockdown and look to the future, it is important we do this in a careful and cautious way.”