A Brighton head teacher has today criticised scaremongering stories in the national press about A level results this summer.
Rosie McColl spoke out in defence of those in a year group who were not allowed to sit their GCSEs because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ms McColl, head teacher at Brighton Girls, in Montpelier Road, said that despite the disruption to their education, they had shown “incredible resilience”.
She said that the last thing they needed was the “gloom and doom” of recent newspaper headlines predicting a scramble for university places as marking returned to pre-pandemic standards.
The Girls Day School Trust (GDST) head said: “The reality is that these students faced significant disruption to their studies while working towards their GCSEs and were denied the opportunity to sit public exams two years ago.
“What’s more, they will have absorbed the annual unhelpful, scaremongering in the week leading up to results day, which this year danced around the themes of grade ‘correction’ and the need for a reset to pre-pandemic norms.
“Throughout this doom and gloom narrative, they have shown incredible resilience and they have my complete admiration for the way in which they got on with the task at hand, working towards their goals calmly and methodically.”
The school said that the year 13 students were able to celebrate as 92 per cent of them were accepted at their first or second choice university.
Ms McColl added: “I am proud of everything our students have achieved.
“This was a special cohort who will be remembered for the generous contributions they made, not only to the school community but to the wider community of Brighton and Hove.
“They have been great role models. Among those receiving results today were Raphaela, who in addition to studying A levels in Latin, Biology and Chemistry, was awarded the Lord Lingfield Medal of Achievement for her achievements within St John Ambulance and who also volunteered during the covid vaccination programme as a patient carer and advocate.
“And then there is Ruby, who volunteered as a hospital befriender on the stroke ward while studying for her A levels.
“This sort of resilence and commitment to community during the tough years we have all been through is what I am very proud of today.”
The government said: “Overall A level results in England are similar to 2019. Outcomes at grade A and above are 26.5 per cent compared with 25.2 per cent in 2019 and outcomes at grade B and above are 52.7 per cent compared with 51.1 per cent in 2019.”
The proportion of grades at A and above was broadly about 10 percentage points lower this year in the independent sector compared with last year, according to a table published by the government this morning.
