GCSE and A-level exam results ‘to be issued in August under new system’ due to coronavirus

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Gavin Williamson has spoken of new Government plans for the exam results
Lucy Young

The Government will aim to issue school exam results in August under a “different system” after GCSEs and A levels were cancelled last night over coronavirus.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson was unable to say this morning whether predicted grades or mock exam results would be used to provide students with grades.

The Department for Education is working with exam boards and unions to find a way for students to gain results, but Mr Williamson admitted any route was “not as good as exams”.

Details are due to be revealed tomorrow and will be sent to all schools, colleges and universities, he said.

Mr Williamson told BBC Breakfast: “Our aim will be to issue GCSEs and A-level examinations in August as we usually do. It will be under a different process and a different system as to how we’ve done it in the past with traditional examinations. This is certainly not ideal and certainly not something we’d be wanting to do but it is a decision that we are having to make with a heavy heart.” He said there needed to be a “proper and thorough” appeals process for those students who do not believe their grade is correct or reflects their efforts.

Asked on LBC’s Nick Ferrari show when children would be allowed to go back to school, he said: “I wish I could say with absolute certainty.”

He said it “wouldn’t be unreasonable” to make the assertion of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who suggested it could be the end of the summer holidays in September when schools reopen. Schools will close from tomorrow afternoon and Mr Williamson said it was “best to assume” children will be out of school for “quite a considerable time”.

He also said schools will be repurposed as a “safe space” for the children of key workers and vulnerable, including over the Easter period. Meanwhile the Prime Minister has committed to providing children who receive free school meals with food vouchers to ensure families are not left struggling.

The school leaders’ union NAHT told the Standard they did not want the Government to “underestimate the magnitude” of what they were asking schools to do and called for specific definitions of key workers and vulnerable pupils in order to decide who to admit.

Thousands of children have already been staying at home due to teachers self-isolating.

Parents voiced concerns about how to balance work with looking after their children. Carolyn Owlett, 35, who lives in Dalston with her sons Billy, 12, and Cassius, seven, said: “I am most worried about how long this could go in for and if I will be able to cope financially.”

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