GCSE results day for North Yorkshire pupils

GCSE students across North Yorkshire are picking up their results today.

Many will be considering their next steps, which can include going to sixth form or college.

Karen Ralphs is from Selby College and says there are lots of different options even if you didn't get the grades you wanted: "It may be that you start at a slightly different level. We see students who start with us sometimes at level one and they can progress right the way and complete a degree course of study with us."

"Pupils will have gone in and tried their absolute best in those exams. It's very rare that students don't want to do well and it is just about, you know, looking at the different options out there and all of those different courses of study that are available."

Students "more fragile"

Meanwhile we are hearing how more students have been applying for special exam access arrangements since the pandemic as they are anxious about being assessed in a crowded exam hall, education leaders have suggested.

Young people and their parents have a greater awareness of the support they can ask for from schools and colleges to help them cope with exams, headteachers' unions have said.

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA), said the cohort of students receiving their exam results this summer were "more fragile" in terms of socialisation and "less comfortable in big groups".

He said schools and colleges were having to make "difficult decisions" about whether to grant a growing number of requests from students who want to sit their exams in smaller rooms away from the main exam hall.

"It's a post-Covid phenomenon. Not only are these young people making these requests, but they are coming to the college with a note from parents, or a note from parents and the GP, supporting the request."

When asked what had led to the rise, Mr Watkin said: "I think generally it is anxiety. Anxiety arising from being in an odd situation for an extended period of time, but also anxiety arising from having missed some learning, anxiety arising from just being uncomfortable in crowded environments."

In England, exams regulator Ofqual said it expected this year's GCSE results to be "broadly similar" to last year, when grades were restored to pre-pandemic levels.

It comes after Covid-19 led to an increase in top GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.

Filey School is celebrating record breaking GCSE results this year.

Students have exceeded expectations and surpassed previous results to achieve impressive GCSE successes. The school says progress at an all-time high with some outstanding individual performances.

Headteacher Michelle Britton said:

"I'm thrilled with the progress of our students who have shown remarkable resilience and perseverance throughout the pandemic and beyond. Their success is testament to their hard work and the dedication of the staff who have taught and supported them so ably.

"We are looking forward to building upon this success in the future in partnership with Delta Academies Trust Education Exchange who have already been instrumental in facilitating our students' progress."

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