A-level recalibration affects local students

Thursday 17 August 2023

The Headteacher of the Sixth Form Centre has praised students across the island for their achievements at Level 3 with this cohort seeing their senior education affected by the covid lockdowns and the efforts to recalibrate results post-pandemic.

Keiran James was at the Sixth Form Centre with other staff this morning to meet students receiving their results.

"It's been busy this morning as normal with lots of happy stories of students who have achieved their places at university or in employment," he said.

"There's been some disappointment as we've heard with the recalibration of the grades back to pre-pandemic levels and we've certainly seen a dip in our results slightly compared to the last few years but generally the story has been that students have achieved their grades to go to university or employment and there are a lot of happy faces." 

Pictured: Students across the island were opening their A Level results this morning.

Mr James also wanted to clarify that the students receiving A Level results today didn't sit GCSEs because of the covid lockdowns meaning for many they had not previously experience exam pressure of this type.

"This cohort were the second cohort who didn't take GCSEs and they they were offered their places in the Sixth Form based on their teacher assessment grades. So these are actually the first exams they've taken in their lives and they've been noting that this morning, and so therefore the challenge for us was to present them with enough preparation for exams at the end of Year 13. So they had lots of exams with us over the two years of their Sixth Form experience to be in a good place to prepare for the students."

At the Ladies College, Principal Daniele Harford-Fox agreed that with the exam boards warning results would be brought back in line with the 2019 distribution, students achievements for this year are particularly impressive.

"I’m incredibly proud of the students today," she said.

Pictured: Daniele Harford-Fox, Principal of The Ladies' College.

"Each grade tells of an individual story of hard work. Each grade was hard won by the student and championed by our amazing team of teachers.

"I think sometimes, it is important to note that a student is not a grade. It feels odd that in this rapidly changing world, we are telling our students that there is an increasingly rigid and narrow route to success. The competition for Russell Group Universities has intensified and the exam boards have decided to again reduce the grades of our students this year, putting immense pressure on a cohort whose GCSE learning has been so disrupted by Covid. 

"The truth is that in this fast-changing world shaped by AI and globalisation, there are actually multiple routes to success. That success is driven as much by proactivity, flexibility and willingness to throw yourself into the fray as it is by your A Level grades. 

"The students at the Ladies’ College are some of the best I have ever met in terms of this. They know their own voices, they are leaders and thinkers and they learn not through regurgitation but through independent thought and curiosity."

Pictured: Elizabeth College Principal Jenny Palmer.

Elizabeth College has also welcomed "a really good set of results which reflect the efforts of these hard-working students, and are consistent with the pre-pandemic results".