A levels 2018-2020. long wait 2

[Moon unit]

I have been tasked with digging out the old uniform so it can be worn tomorrow.
My DS and friends have booked astroturfs and are out celebrating whilst maintaining social distance.
My DD in year 11 however is devastated...

[tiffinboys]

How do a bunch of boys keep social distance, while out celebrating together?
Schools are closed for a reason. Stay safe.

[doodles]

Wish we knew more about how grades will be determined. My ds has been rather unwell since November but was just getting back on his feet. He did ok in his mocks but was aiming for better in his exams

[tiffinboys]

DC would prefer exams; always did better at exams than mocks.

[KS10]

Predicted grades, perhaps? Or are they not trusted?

[ToadMum]

Well that's that then. What a monumental mess. That statement should not have been made without all the backup information being simultaneously available. What a poor way to treat the next generation (of voters!)

Absolutely agree. DD is clueless about what happens now as is everyone else. They should have made that sort if announcement without stating what the alternative is.

Hacked off is the polite term.

Yup. DS2 only has AS exams, which they could decide to forego just the once, but the fact that there was no simultaneous announcement by UCAS (other than, we'll get back to you later ) sort of gives the impression that this was a 'political' statement, not an 'educational', nor yet 'logistical' one.

[kenyancowgirl]

Agree - statement from exam board due Friday.

[Jean.Brodie]

Hi all!

Firstly, I want to always remember that, whatever the inconvenience and the frustration to those preparing for GCSEs, or A Levels or, like my daughter, University Finals, too many people will die and too many will be very ill. And quite a few survivors will be left with breathing badly affected for life.

On the mundane point of Assessment, in the end Ofqual will want statistics comparable to prior years. So, if say nationally for 2019 Mongolian Studies had 17% Level 8s at GCSE, then predicted grades giving 23% would have to be revisited and moderated 'down'. Similarly, if all A Levels were expected at around 25% to 26% A*/A [real 2019 figure 25.2%], then a figure of 23% from predicted grades would be moderated 'up'.

I'm afraid we will never know what might have been and there will be some left feeling hard done by.

The most important result, though, will be what lessons this young generation learns for their lives and their world. My generation learnt nothing form two world wars, nuclear stand offs, the Thalidomide scandal, cigarettes causing lung cancer, ... . Our Prime Minister learned nothing from SARS in 2003 or even from China-Singapore-Iran-Italy in the last two months.

Good luck to all young people. ... A Level or Uni prep anyone? Online tuition?

[tiffinboys]

Please don’t do political broadcast. Many agree that government is taking proportionate measures.

[solimum]

That wasn't a political post IMHO. Governments (of all persuasions) routinely fail to learn the lessons of history: planning for future risks often takes second place to existing priorities. On what proves to have been a very fortunately-timed holiday earlier this year I had hours on the flight to watch the Chernobyl mini-series; human nature at its best and worst.

There are certainly political debates to be had about the funding of the NHS, whether previous pandemic planning exercises were listened to and how OFQUAL / UCAS have planned for national emergencies, whether we should be cooperating more with our neighbours on procurement rather than thinking we can go it alone, whether we should have sent the message to so many EU medical staff that they weren't welcome here, or that care work and cleaning and shop-stocking and 111 call-handling is "Low skilled" , but that wasn't the message I picked up from the previous post

Ultimately this is to some extent "the end of the world as we know it" for practically everyone on the planet: but eventually a new normal will emerge. I don't (yet) think this is the natural world somehow taking revenge on its most damaging species (although the benefits to climate change worries of all the reduced travel must be huge) - we will adapt, and the class of 2020 will be the ones to take the planet and the economy forwards in the best way they can.