I count myself lucky to have been able to spend a week away this year. A caravan in some woodland is great for recharging the batteries and is easy for social distancing. But what a week to be away, with so much going on. The results fiasco is absolutely scandalous, and my heart goes out to all of those teens whose future seemed so certain a year ago, who find themselves frantically trying to sort out what their next move is. We haven’t offered A level tuition before at EKT, but we will be opening up A level English shortly.

We will be watching Thursday’s results with close interest. Lord Baker (of Baker Days’ fame for any of you who remember when staff training days were called that) has suggested the algorithm used to calculate results is so flawed GCSE results should be delayed. Subjects with more than 15 entrants will be graded using Ofqual’s statistical modelling based on the ranking teachers have given each pupil, regardless of the teacher’s assessed grade.

So, what can we do?

First of all, Don’t Panic.  Your child’s future doesn’t depend all on one set of grades. Trust me, I dropped out of Uni at 19 and didn’t return for another 20 years, yet I’ve done just fine. As yet we don’t know what kind of appeal process there may be (if I’m honest, I doubt the Government has a Scooby Do right now either) but there will be the option of sitting exams in the Autumn. No one is more aware of the injustice of this system than your child’s teachers, so discuss your child’s best options with them. I promise you, they are as upset about this, and as determined to make sure their students get the best opportunities, as you are.

We will be offering intensive revision and essay writing sessions for children taking Autumn exams from Results Day, as well as re-starting our usual GCSE tutoring sessions.