A level results day 2021 support thread

I'm afraid I've lost all faith in DDs teachers and the system after the last week. Not a grade below an A in two years, a comfortable A in the March mocks and 92% and 90% in the final two exams in May. Never a suggestion or worry that DD wouldn't receive at least an A. Given a grade B.

Firm and insurance choices lost and we are now in no man's land with an absolutely devastated daughter who feels stupid.

School was empty on results day and our only "support" from them was to email them to arrange a telephone call which never came. Very hard not to feel bitter towards them. And now we're on stage 2 of an appeals process which is designed to fall in favour with the school.

The system was set up to be fair though, in that each school could decide how best to grade, based upon the students experience over the last year. This makes sense. Some schools had no disruption, some kids were off multiple times, others not at all. Some finished the curriculum, some only managed half. Good or bad on-line provision. Mocks or no mocks. All schools had access to papers before hand, and each was very focused in nature, meaning the DC's didn't have to cover the entire curriculum.

Grades had to be based on the "cohort". If you produced an essay, then you had to have the majority of the students do that same essay in order to grade and give evidence against the whole cohort. If over the year very few students managed to do essays, then perhaps the school couldn't use those, and therefore chose to do exams only?

Predicted grades are also always a minefield. Is it 20% over estimated? I don't think any mock grade can be reasonably used to predict a year end outcome.

I suppose at the end of the day, as Madame says, you have to trust that your school has done the best for the students, in the only manner that they could have done with all circumstances taken into consideration.

I would agree with a lot of your points but I still maintain that it’s not been a level playing field hence the massive “grade inflation” that has arisen this year in a lot of cases. We are on the opposite end of the spectrum being awarded lower than predicted grades due to an exam based grading system (which was what the government said was unfair and wouldn’t happen) and no other evidence taken into account. We feel completely let down by the system and policies and have no grounds for appeal as they have also decided these too! It’s a no win situation for us so I do hope the school are happy and content with what they have done as all we feel is the upset this has caused our child and the uncertainty for the next chapter.

There was no standard agreed policy for either GCSE or A Level that all schools used. Every school had to develop their own policy. No school will have set out to disadvantage their students. Everyone was just trying to come up with something practical, that they felt would generate the strongest possible evidence so that it couldn’t then be moderated down by the exam boards. The inconsistency is totally the fault of the government and not schools. The school will have been trying to create strong, high-control evidence (which JCQ guidance said was better) and had no way of knowing that other schools would do things differently.
They also have not made it impossible for people to challenge it. There is a process by which it can be challenged, which schools were not responsible for creating. It just that, based on what you’ve said, this doesn’t fall under one of the reasons that a grade would be changed. You are questioning the schools policy, which was already signed off by an exam board as appropriate before the grades were submitted. It’s crap, but it is what it is and not the fault of the school.

@MadameMinimes Its completely outrageous how they can differ from school to school and therefore disadvantage the child. Its very unfair that they have created an unlevel playing field for our A 'Level students. Apparently the GCSE grading policy was the same as other schools so why make it so hard and disadvantage the A 'Level students? Completely unfair and I just don't understand why the school would do such an awful thing and make it impossible for anyone to challenge it?

[quote cutlerycollector]@Dragonfly101
I expect the exams officer will be in, due to being available for appeals. [/quote]
Thanks. I really hope so.

@Dragonfly101
I expect the exams officer will be in, due to being available for appeals.

I've just discovered my DS never picked up his English gcse resit certificate. He will need it for enrolment and school is closed. I will phone tomorrow and see if there is anyone in the office but unlikely for exam officer to be in. What else can I do?

Just as an aside, stage one appeals are made to the school and carried out by the school. A stage 2 appeal is carried out by the awarding body (exam board). Schools are not “marking their own work”. But the exam board will only change a grade if one of the following three things are true. Either the school did not follow their own policy, the exam board made an administrative error in processing the result or the judgement made by the school as not a reasonable interpretation of the evidence.

Countrygirl- I understand your frustration but that would not constitute grounds for appeal. All schools had to submit a policy and, whilst it isn’t what we did, basing the grades primarily on an exam series was a valid way of generating TAGs and lots of schools did it that way. Their policy would have been approved and as long as they followed their own policy, then there isn’t really anything to base an appeal on. I sympathise, but there is no chance that your appeal would be successful. The guidance on appeals makes that point quite clearly. Not following their own policy is grounds for appeal, but having a different policy to another school is not.

@pistachioicecream We are trying to put together an appeal but I do think the appeals system is not going to work in anyone's favour! Our child missed out on their first choice Uni and we have had to go through 48hrs of clearing to a Uni that wasn't on the radar. Its totally unfair how the process works and the JCQ guidance to schools only stated the "could use and can use" when outlining the criteria, typical law speak! So our school judged all A'Levels based on end of term exams they created and those alone, so appealing would mean asking them to remark their own work! Certainly not what the Government said would happen! Really miffed at what they have done! :(

Ds should have got an A* in history
Most of his assessments this year and his NEA were A*
So I guess he was ranked down
The College knew he needed A so that's what he got
It's a bit annoying

Has anyone managed to put an appeal together for their child's A 'Level grades? We are working towards a priority appeal but the system is so completely flawed as we are only allowed to appeal on two grounds. We want to appeal the school has based their entire grading policy on the outcome of the exams they set and have not taken into account any other evidence which is not what other schools have done and has cost our child their first choice uni place. This is completely unfair and not a level playing field. Anyone else in the same boat?

Crikey -you must have had slugs crawling up the wall 🤣

mrsmoss its been explained much better on other threads, but the colleges were encouraged to look at 2017/2019 grades when submitting theirs

So if in 2017 there were 6 As and 7 As then the school would look at how many As this years cohort had and if there were 8 then the first 6 would get an A and the 7th might get an A but the 8th would definitely get a A…does that make sense, I’m not great at explaining stuff online 😀

Ds2 was the best in his class but he freely admits that there were some very very clever children in the other class

@RufustheBadgeringReindeer - can I ask how the ranking thing works? DS was telling me this but surely each cohort were not ranked against each other within each school? That would make all the work in the last two years pretty pointless especially at some schools.

I don't see any point in appealing the result he is most disappointed in. 1 teacher, small cohort, can't see how it was moderated so it would be futile. He can't see how his evidence submissions and performance in the internal exams have ended in the result awarded. It would be challenging someone in an echo chamber - they're not going to change their mind are they.

DS very down and deflated. GCSE A* across the board and objectively good grades but AAAAB is not good enough for what he intends to do or what was predicted. He will do October exams but oh my God more bloody pressure. This has been misery.

Agree with this :

“ However, ultimately, each stage is a gateway to the next and no one has ever asked for my O and A level results. I graduated (80s) with a good degree from a good uni. If your child has made it to their first/second choice, I’d just roll with it -it’s too much stress for everyone and I think we’ve all had enough stress over the past almost 20 months. “

Worked at A level, exams A level but the college were working on a ranking and he was out ranked

He doesn’t want to appeal either….he’s worried they’d take the other grades away, but he was the same in his gcse as he was 2 points away from a higher grade

In my final year at Bristol (back in the 80s to be fair) I lived in a house where my rent was £42.50 a month. A MONTH! I mean, it was freezing cold and my room was very noisy, but still.

We're in a similar position. Dd was predicted A,A,B and got A, B, C. She has got into her first choice uni so doesn't want to appeal... I'm miffed for her but can understand she just wants to move on. Her college definitely haven't over awarded though, which is a shame but luck of the draw I guess.

I didn't get halls when I went to uni back in the day, but I do remember that anything over £30 a week rent was considered ridiculously expensive!

@pistachioicecream
I agree -this appeal system isn’t going to help the vast majority of students upset with their grades, and it’s designed not to IMO.

My daughter was miffed not to get an A* (always predicted) in one subject, but she got an A. In her other subjects she was predicted As, but (during 17 hours of assessments) had flashes of brilliance, and then a couple of duds, so was awarded Bs.

I don’t think her awarded grades were unfair in the circumstances and she got her first choice.

My problem with this year (as they had time to plan) was that every school/college was left to devise their own system and there is no continuity at all and that’s what isn’t fair.

However, ultimately, each stage is a gateway to the next and no one has ever asked for my O and A level results. I graduated (80s) with a good degree from a good uni. If your child has made it to their first/second choice, I’d just roll with it -it’s too much stress for everyone and I think we’ve all had enough stress over the past almost 20 months.

As an aside: my b&b uni accom in the 80s (4 to a shared bathroom, wash basins in bedroom and communal kitchen) was £45 pw -quite the bargain!

Is that with ensuite bathroom tho? We cant afford to add to ds2's £7k loan so he has to have shared bathroom. Same thing with dd two years ago. Some of the rooms are lboro are £8k (that is catered but still a lot)

Crikey. DS is going to Bournemouth and it's £6k self catering. 😮

Loughborough halls update - after a number of calls (DS2 called and was fobbed off so I stepped in ) yesterday, he was offered a SC room that was £6200! He called again and was told tough, I then called and managed to get them to agree to find him something cheaper! Phew, finally he has been allocated a room, not in his first choice hall but that's fine, it looks like a fun hall to be in and it's £4700 so at least he can afford to eat. And drink lol.