Everyone starting Year 13 In September - What answers do you need?

Ofqual - How can we trust you not to make the same mistakes you made this year? What measures will you put in places to ensure grading is fair for us?

Exam boards - How will you make sure you correct grade inflation to make sure we are not disadvantaged against the last Year 13s, as A*s nearly doubled this year?

The government - What plans do you have in place should there be a second wave?

A general note to all: Both classes of 2021 have been severely disadvantaged. We have missed almost 5 months of learning, with some schools having more online lessons than others and widening the gap between students. Mocks have been cancelled for some, while others have gone ahead. Everyone is at different stages of their learning. We need clarity from you all about how our exams will go ahead - sooner rather than later. We are not statistics, you have our futures in your hands. Please ensure you are doing all you can to support us.

I want to hear from all of them!

This. As usual RazzzBerries you have impressed me with your opinion.

(For the government/ofqual) Are there going to be any changes to our exams? I know a document has been released about changes since the consultation but for the majority of subjects there is not a single change. There has been changes to IB exams - so why not alevels?

Also, is there any plans/support in place for the class of 2021 uni places? - there is a large number of 2020 students who have deferred/are planning to re-apply or resit exams after the whole grades situation this year...

(not strictly a question, but...) I know it's varied from school to school and person to person...but this whole pandemic has (generally) benefited those who go to private schools, as compared to other schools the majority of them have been receiving full time tabled zoom lessons, while others at state schools have had to teach themselves from power points and textbooks (and some children don't even have access to the internet at home....).

Ofqual - How can we trust you not to make the same mistakes you made this year? What measures will you put in places to ensure grading is fair for us?

Exam boards - How will you make sure you correct grade inflation to make sure we are not disadvantaged against the last Year 13s, as A*s nearly doubled this year?

The government - What plans do you have in place should there be a second wave?

A general note to all: Both classes of 2021 have been severely disadvantaged. We have missed almost 5 months of learning, with some schools having more online lessons than others and widening the gap between students. Mocks have been cancelled for some, while others have gone ahead. Everyone is at different stages of their learning. We need clarity from you all about how our exams will go ahead - sooner rather than later. We are not statistics, you have our futures in your hands. Please ensure you are doing all you can to support us.

Honestly, I want to know clearly (with no last minute changes):

- How are we being marked next year? Are we doing exams online if Covid is still rampant or will it be like this years leaver where we go off mocks?
- if going based on mocks or other non exam format, I want a full description of how our (hopefully improved) system will work, so we have chance to remove any bias and base it off our individual academic strength, not a postcode. We deserve to know how this new system works, as we know how examination works.
- Will there be extra support or resources / or perhaps reduction in workload as a reparation for the time missed? What will be the resources / reductions specifically?
- How do you aim to help those who can not use online lessons / not able to work in a home environment this year? Those without adequate technology?
- What are our rights if we do not feel it is safe to go back to college?
- What are our options if we are not able to get the grade we hoped for, considering the fact that we have missed over half a year of college, will we be able to resit the year in full time college classrooms or at least be provided with grouped tutors so that we are not forced to individually study for our resits?
- What are our options if we wish to go another educational route? How are you funding / managing apprenticeships and are they a safe option?
- Have you any plans to change how universities consider applicants temporarily (this question is to whoever it concerns, universities or UCAS etc) considering that the current applicant system has chosen to benefit those who are in better colleges or areas? Are you trying to work around the governments lack of care, and how so?

final edit: and to the government, why is all this information so hard to find at the moment? We should not have to search over multiple articles, web pages and companies to know how to prepare for our future - I know it's a lot to ask on a government dealing with a pandemic, but please just make this information available on one webpage - no links, nothing. Text only will do, but as long as it's easy for everybody to access then I don't care how fancy it looks.

I want to hear from all of them!

TSR shouldn't even be the ones having to arrange this, they should be actively transparent on their own accord!

Heya! Just to check, do you mean for Year 12s who are starting Year 13 this September?

Yep And thank you for everything you are doing.

Yusssssss. We're working on iiiiit.

Honestly, I want to know clearly (with no last minute changes):

- How are we being marked next year? Are we doing exams online if Covid is still rampant or will it be like this years leaver where we go off mocks?
- if going based on mocks or other non exam format, I want a full description of how our (hopefully improved) system will work, so we have chance to remove any bias and base it off our individual academic strength, not a postcode. We deserve to know how this new system works, as we know how examination works.
- Will there be extra support or resources / or perhaps reduction in workload as a reparation for the time missed? What will be the resources / reductions specifically?
- How do you aim to help those who can not use online lessons / not able to work in a home environment this year? Those without adequate technology?
- What are our rights if we do not feel it is safe to go back to college?
- What are our options if we are not able to get the grade we hoped for, considering the fact that we have missed over half a year of college, will we be able to resit the year in full time college classrooms or at least be provided with grouped tutors so that we are not forced to individually study for our resits?
- What are our options if we wish to go another educational route? How are you funding / managing apprenticeships and are they a safe option?
- Have you any plans to change how universities consider applicants temporarily (this question is to whoever it concerns, universities or UCAS etc) considering that the current applicant system has chosen to benefit those who are in better colleges or areas? Are you trying to work around the governments lack of care, and how so?

final edit: and to the government, why is all this information so hard to find at the moment? We should not have to search over multiple articles, web pages and companies to know how to prepare for our future - I know it's a lot to ask on a government dealing with a pandemic, but please just make this information available on one webpage - no links, nothing. Text only will do, but as long as it's easy for everybody to access then I don't care how fancy it looks.

Hey guys,

This thread is for everyone who's just finished Year 12, and is starting Year 13 in September.

Back in March, 70% of TSR users thought Year 10s and 12s were being forgotten by the government. Fast-forward to August, and we've been seeing loads of questions from those of you who've just finished Year 12, asking about what the situation is going to be for your year group heading into Year 13.

Following on from our open letter on behalf of students, we've been squirrelling away talking to people like Ofqual and the Department for Education to get some clarity and answers to your questions, and we know you probably have a lot of other questions about your future too.

So what answers and information do you guys need?

Who do you want it from and in what format?

We've got a few thoughts already, but the whole point is that these organisations/bodies hear your thoughts directly, so let us know.

I'm just glad we can try and help in some way.

These are such good questions. We raised the question about the attainment gap widening today when we spoke to DfE and we were sharing concerns of the back of our open letter. I hope they and others are able to give some answers on that.