The government should be made to fulfil their promise re Autumn GCSE sittings since there is now no appeals procedure. [Edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

I’m surprised by the answers here. As a teacher I’m furious that they might withdraw them. I think this will put an awful lot of pressure on teachers and will direct an awful lot of public anger and resentment our way. Every student who doesn’t get what the grade they thought they should is going to blame their teachers and their school. The autumn exams were meant to be the chance to correct any errors without a complex and unwieldy appeals process.

You're upset and you're catastrophising. Which is understandable, but not going to help.

None of us has any idea what things will look like a year from now, but the one thing that seems increasingly apparent is that very little will look how it did before. So there's little point catastrophising on the basis that systems and expectations after this will be as if it hadn't affected anyone.

The whole system your DD is part of will adapt and change to what's going on.

Even in normal times before this, unfairness affected lots of teenagers taking exams. People find their way through.

Just because things don't play out how you've pictured them doesn't mean they will be awful.

Things could work out better - your DD has a huge chance to get a head start on her A level work, and the opportunity to start that work relatively "rested" because she hasn't had to go through the mill sitting exams.

That is the approach I would be using to take control.

I agree op.

My niece is devastated. She was predicted 7/8 in most of her subjects but was struggling in maths in a low set and barely expected to get a 4/5.

So after mocks in January she started good no to a tutor. He identified gaps in her learning (stemming from having attended a poor junior school and missing secondary lessons due to mental health) and he also explained things in a different way (she’s autistic). Things just clicked and at the beginning of March said there was no reason she shouldn’t get at LEAST a 6.

But her school have no evidence of this. Ok, she may not need Maths for college/uni but the effect of this is that she’s just given up on everything as what’s the point. Probably part of the autism. She’s going to do a childcare course at college.

Honestly there won't be many.

Then you have to deal with her separately and appreciate she's a special case. Most students will accept their grades as a passport to further study and move on.

Fund a gap year like most people by getting a job.

We've interacted about thus before OP.

Working on pre A level work for subjects she wants to do at A level is great. Lots of this will be covered by GCSE revision anyway.

Why are you so bothered about subjects she doesn't want to continue?

It is not in the schools interest to down grade her. There are very very few cases where students make huge grade improvements from March to June. It is unfortunate if you really thought she would and now won't get to find out. But what alternative do you suggest?

No one knows when the resits will happen because no one knows what's happening with schools going back.

Calm down and prioritise what she wants to study at sixth form. Forget the rest.

I think the loss of income from foreign students for universities, coupled with the recession meaning fewer home students, means that in a couple of years universities are going to offer places to almost all that apply.

One way is move on to A-level work. Work hard at A-level, do not apply to uni in year 13, but take a Gap year once she has A-level grades and GCSE grades are of far less value in that application process.
I say this as someone who did exactly this due to less than stellar GCSE grades, really up my game at A-level gaining tip top grades. Worked in relevant area in gap year had unconditional offer by Feb of my gap year.

Proof of interest means relevant work experience, voluntary work, relevant EPQ, attendance at relevant talks/lectures provided by unis or eg professional institutes, MOOCS, TED talks, independent research and reading around the subject. Not a GCSE that everyone has done.

You do realise everyone will be disadvantaged in exactly the same way. University's will have to adapt when this years cohort come round. Your DD will be at no more of an advantage or disadvantage than anyone else. How do you know she would have aced her exams given the chance, there are so many variables that all students have to face when approaching exams, and things do go wrong. Get the GCSE grades and focus on getting good A levels. It's what all current Year 11 students are going to have to do.

I also have a year 11 dd. Prior to all this she'd been looking at degree courses she'd be interested in - Russell Group unis, high A Level requirements. None of them stipulated GCSE grades, other than the usual Maths and English passes. My understanding is that most universities are mainly looking at A Level predicted grades?

If a course requires Maths and English GCSE passes and A,A,B at A Level for example and your dd is predicted those A Level grades, she should be in with a chance. And if not, she can wait until she has the actual A Level grades and apply then. I really wouldn't worry too much.

Both my brothers did underwhelmingly at GCSE - the older one got a mixture of Bs, Cs and Ds - and got into top universities because their A Levels were much better. I think this is common, especially with boys.

You don't know how universities are going to approach admissions with this cohort. For all sorts of reasons I expect students with strong A-levels and mediocre GCSES will be able to get on chosen courses. It's likely that the marking system will undergrade students in various disadvantaged groups and for that reason alone I'd expect universities to take a considered view. As stated up thread the main reason to consider GCSE grades is that they are achieved whereas A grades are predicted if students are applying in year 13. If a student takes a year out post A level they can apply with achieved A level grades and GCSEs become far less important.

My understanding is that appeals are possible if there is a concern about the statistical process but not in relation to the teacher award. I do think that the gradings of the GCSEs this year is as fair a system as is possible.

I agree that autumn exams should be possible, I think that the government promised this without a good understanding of how difficult it would be to administer. The last article I read on it, and I can't remember where, but I think they were looking at English and maths autumn retakes but may not be able to offer a full range of subjects. The government may yet step in and change that. Obviously the ongoing uncertainty about when schools can return is adding to the challenge here.

All students in this cohort will be in the same boat though and I can't imagine universities won't consider this when offering places.

Get her doing pre-A level work. A nice head start to her A level courses. That seems to be what a lot of schools are doing.

How many subjects and how many grades below capability are you expecting this to impact her?
Why are you not expecting her grades to be more or less right?