January 24th 2021
Many parents will have older children who have had their public examinations disrupted either this coming summer, or last year. As a family, all three of our children have experienced this with our eldest son not being able to take A-Levels in May 2020, and our daughter and younger son in A-Levels and GCSE limbo this year.
What is especially difficult for children to deal with is the lack of certainty in the process which lies ahead. The Government and examination boards have been slow to end doubt for 2021 exams as they seek to find a better solution to the fiasco surrounding the awarding of grades through an algorithm in 2020. This system was grossly unfair on many children and the subsequent Government U-turn put schools in the firing line as parents questioned the Centre Assessed Grades (given by schools in accordance with prescriptive guidelines, but not intended as the final result), which then became children’s firm results. I saw this chaos play out first hand through my son’s results, and also in my role as an independent panel member on parents’ complaint processes at a leading senior school.
It is difficult enough for teenagers to deal with, but spare a thought for the 10 year old children in Northern Ireland who were due to take the Grammar School ‘Transfer Test’, and had been working towards these exams for up to two years. This potentially life changing test was cancelled in November and to date there has been no plan presented as to how Grammar school places will be awarded. In a ‘normal’ year, places would have been awarded by now and these young children would have had certainty.
In some ways we are fortunate at Moulsford that the boys are not taking public academic exams. Most of the boys sitting academic scholarships to senior schools this term have had their exams moved to the summer, although Oundle and St. Edward’s remain this term. The senior school admissions system is now very heavily weighted to Pre-Tests in Years 6 or 7, and these processes have been able to continue in a revised format this term. While we await full clarification, we strongly expect that senior schools will only be keen to see boys’ Common Entrance results in June 2021 for setting purposes this year. Either way, we are very mindful of the burden placed on boys as a result of any uncertainty surrounding forthcoming exams.
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