Hartlepool Borough Council comment on today’s GCSE results

Published Thursday, 20th August 2020

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic there have been changes to how GCSEs have been calculated this year.

Students have not been able to sit exams as usual and have had Centre Assessed Grades (CAG) submitted to Ofqual, which are based upon teacher assessments.

Over the past week there has been much controversy in relation to how this process was applied to A Level results and we saw Centre Assessed Grades changed as a result of an algorithm that Ofqual applied to those submissions.

On Monday 17 August, the Government recognised that this algorithm was not a fair process and, as a result, has agreed that the Centre Assessed Grades for both A Levels and GCSEs will be accepted.

 

Hartlepool Borough Council has issued the following comment on today’s GCSE results:

Councillor Leisa Smith, Chair of Hartlepool Borough Council’s Children’s Services Committee, said: “First and foremost, we would like to pay tribute to Hartlepool’s students, their families and schools for all the hard work they have done leading up to this point and we send them our warmest congratulations.

“We fully appreciate how deeply worrying and stressful the last few months have been for them due to the COVID-19 situation and the controversy over the grading process and we welcome the Government’s change to using grades based upon teacher assessments.

“As a result, Year 11 students are today receiving results which reflect a much fairer process.

“Across all our secondary schools, students have received results which the headteachers tell us are an accurate reflection of the effort and hard work the students have put into their studies.

“The schools are happy that the results awarded are a fair reflection and the students have been able to visit their schools this morning and celebrate their hard-earned grades with their families and teachers.

“We are very proud of the students’ achievements during this very difficult time and we wish them every success in their future studies and careers.”