Latest news with #resultsday
Daily Mail
21 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
I'm Vanessa Feltz's daughter and a trained child therapist. Here's what my mum taught me - and 11 other ways to help an anxious child in today's scary world
It's exam season, and stress levels among children and their parents have risen to a rolling boil. And once they're over? Our kids will feel brief relief, until results day looms and they're back to fretting about their future. Whether it's school or social media-related pressures, there's always something for young people to worry about.
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Don't ditch GCSE results day – as a teacher, I can tell you just how disastrous that would be
Every GCSE results day, school halls buzz with the entire spectrum of human emotion. There's pride and regret, utter elation and total despair. Relief that all that hard work has finally paid off, and usually a bit of bemusement when five years of doodling at the back of class has, somehow, culminated in a decent grade. For us teachers, it's a chance to congratulate, to say goodbye, to commiserate or celebrate. But in Manchester and the West Midlands this year, things will look very different. The government is trialling a new app, giving students the option to receive their results online instead of going into school. The plan is to eventually roll this out nationwide, following the lead of Scotland, which brought in a results app in 2019. As a secondary school teacher, this feels like a massive step backwards. At my school, students currently have to come in to receive their results (or else have them posted to them afterwards). That may sound inconvenient or stuck in the past, but consider what support students might need once they hear how they've done. As with all teachers on results day, I've wiped away tears, advised on resits or remarking, and acted as a buffer between students and families who don't understand why a grade is lower than expected. I've supported pupils when their marks have been higher than anticipated too – encouraging them to aim for a more competitive sixth form or college that they had assumed it was too late to consider. While students getting their grades through an app would, I hope, still be surrounded by the support of their loved ones, this isn't the same as the expertise and experience of education staff. I can see the education minister Stephen Morgan's point when he says it's 'high time exam records were brought into the 21st century' and I can get behind the idea of bringing each student's exam results into one set of digital education records (boy, would that have made my own life easier all those times I've scrambled for old GCSE certificates the night before a job interview) but results day is about so much more than receiving a list of grades. It's the start of a new chapter, and it is teachers and schools that are best placed to guide students through these next steps. As pointed out by James Bowen, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, schools and pupils will still need 'seamless support' on results day in case issues arise, but my worry would be that, tempted with the ease of pressing a button at home, pupils would no longer access the wealth of knowledge their teachers and schools can offer them about their futures. Teenagers could be left to fester in their disappointment all summer at home without knowing what to do about it, or fail to make the most of higher-than-expected grades without experienced staff offering them some advice in person. When I think of the poorest students, without the guidance of educated parents well-versed in the system, it feels like this will only widen already growing class divides. As a teacher, I always find results day a moving reminder that my job transcends just drilling Shakespeare quotes into teenagers' heads. Some of the most fulfilling moments of my career have happened on those stifling days in the middle of August as I find out the fate of the young people I've stressed about as though they're my own children. It's a heady morning full of hugs and selfies, tactfully offered tissues and words of consolation. Many teachers cut their own holidays short to make sure they can be in school to guide students through the aftermath – positive or otherwise – of the grades they've received. Friends of mine who teach in Scotland, where results by app have been an option for years, tell of pupils who still want to come to see their teachers after receiving their results online because, simply put, we offer our students something more than any app can. In the pilot scheme in England, I'm encouraged that while the results will come out at 11am on the app, they can be accessed at school from 8am – which I hope might incentivise students to make the trip. Perhaps what really makes GCSE results day so special is that, like school in general, it is a communal, human, in-person event in a world that has been slowly dissolved into the cloud. When I think back to receiving my own exam results 15 years ago, it's not the As, Bs and Cs themselves that are etched in my mind, but the high-fives from my proud teachers, the hugs with my friends, the advice from my heads of year and the poignancy of this leg of my educational journey ending in the very place it began. As someone who spends all my working hours with young people, I can't help but feel sad that this core memory may not be available to the generations to come. Nadeine Asbali is the author of Veiled Threat: On Being Visibly Muslim in Britain, and a secondary school teacher in London
BBC News
07-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
When are GCSE exam dates and when is results day 2025?
What dates are GCSE exams and when is results day 2025? 5 minutes ago Share Save Share Save Getty Images Exam season has begun for hundreds of thousands of GCSE students in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Here is everything you need to know. When are the 2025 GCSE exam dates? What happens if I miss an exam due to illness? If you are unwell on the day of your exam, you should contact your school or college as soon as possible. You will be asked to fill out a form for your school or college to request "special consideration" from your exam board. The simple exam tweaks that can completely change lives What time do GCSE results come out? GCSE results will come out on Thursday, 21 August from 08:00 BST. If you are collecting them in person, check with your school for exact timings. Some students will get their results via a new app which will deliver grades directly to their phone from 11:00 BST on results day. Around 95,000 pupils in Manchester and the West Midlands will be able to use the app this summer, before it is rolled out more widely. Students in Scotland have been able to get their results via an online app since 2019. In Wales and Northern Ireland, results are usually distributed by schools and colleges. In England, GCSEs are now graded using a numerical system from 9-1, rather than A-E as was previously the case. Students need a 4 for a "standard pass" and 5 for a "strong pass". In Wales and Northern Ireland, GCSEs are still graded using letters, unless an exam taken in those nations is managed by an English exam board. What are the GCSE grade boundaries? Grade boundaries show the minimum number of marks you need for each grade. They are decided by examiners and published on results day. How have GCSEs in Wales changed? How can I appeal against my GCSE results? If you do not think your grade is right, you should first talk to your school or college. It will contact the exam board on your behalf and ask for your marks to be reviewed. If you still think you have been unfairly graded after a review, you can ask your school or college to appeal. The exam board will consider whether a correction is needed. If you are still not satisfied, you can request a review from regulator Ofqual. The charity YoungMinds says results are not the only measure of success - and if things do not turn out as you had hoped, there are lots of other ways to help you achieve your goals. What if I fail a GCSE exam? You can resit any GCSE exam the following academic year. The resits for GCSE maths and English, which are both mandatory subjects, take place from 5 November. If you want to explore this option, you should speak to your school about the best course of action. BBC Bitesize: Options if you're unhappy with your GCSE or Nationals results What happens after GCSEs?
