‘A complete and utter mess’: Year 13 students face rushed goodbyes and uncertainty over university as UK schools close

‘It feels like these last two years have been a waste,’ says pupil

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As schools across the UK shut their doors indefinitely this week, students in Year 13 are facing rushed goodbyes and uncertainty about university places.

For many sixth formers their last day of school will take place prematurely on Friday. However, some students have even been deprived of this finality due to early closures amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The government’s announcement that all GCSE and A-level exams had been cancelled left teenagers feeling anxious and confused about whether they would progress into higher education this year.

Students waiting for further clarity on assessment feel like their hard work have gone to waste.

Speaking about closures and cancelled exams, Jamie Harkin, a student at Drumragh College in Tyrone in Northern Ireland, said: “It is so difficult to come to terms with. It is just a complete and utter mess.”

The Year 13 student, who is hoping to study at King’s College London, said: “It is just crazy to think that your whole two years of work is just gone in March 2020. We have got nothing to show for it.

“Everyone is up in arms because nobody has a clue what is going on. Do we keep revising? Do we put it all away? What are we going to do for the next three months?,” he told The Independent.

Jamie has been unable to say his goodbyes as the school closed a week ago. “You are working towards your leavers’ assemblies, parties and having a good time. To think that has been cut short now in March is really scary,” he added.

Treenie Smith, who is in her final year at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London, said students were preparing for their last day to be on Friday but the school shut early on Thursday.

“We wanted to go back to the school to say goodbye to everyone but we were told we couldn’t come back in. We all went off in our separate ways. There wasn’t really time to say goodbye.”

On the cancellation of exams, she added: “It just feels like these last two years have been a waste.”

But some schools closing this week have been able to organise leavers’ assemblies at the last minute to mark the end of an era.

Ed Grayson, head boy at the Hemel Hempstead School in Hertfordshire, said Year 13 students would come into school in their old uniforms on Friday as part of a tradition that normally occurs in May.

Speaking to The Independent, he said: “People are going to be holding back with hugs and handshakes so that is going to be weird.

“School has been a massive part of my life for the past seven years and it has come to quite an abrupt end. It feels premature.”

So far, the government has said pupils will get the GCSE and A-level qualifications they need and the government is aiming to award students with grades in August as normal.

But details on how the new assessment system will work – such as whether teacher assessments and mock exam results will be used – have not yet been published.

Students are concerned about whether they will still be accepted on courses based on predicted grades or teacher assessments.

Charlotte Passco, a student at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College in Bristol, is hoping to do a degree apprenticeship but all the assessment days have been postponed.

She said: “It’s left us feeling really anxious about everything. We are all really confused and we want answers about what is fully going to happen.

“I have been revising a lot harder lately towards my exams and there is a worry that my predicted grades won’t fully show that.”

Joey Kent, a student at Collyer’s sixth form college in West Sussex, is worried he will not be able to secure the grades he needs to get into medical school in the autumn.

He said: “We have been doing so much work for our exams and they are not going to happen. It makes it a bit pointless.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “This is an incredibly difficult situation for Year 13 students.

“They will leave school or college on Friday afternoon with a great deal of uncertainty about what lies ahead and all the traditional landmarks of the academic year disrupted.”

He added that school leaders would need to reassure students with regular communication about how qualifications will be assessed in lieu of exams as information becomes available.

Mr Barton said: “Everybody will be doing everything possible to ensure they are not disadvantaged in any way and that they are able to progress to university, apprenticeships or employment in as normal a manner as is possible in these extraordinary circumstances.”

Juliana Mohamad Noor, vice president for further education at the National Union of Students (NUS), said: “Students now need certainty over what will happen, and how their futures will be affected.

“We urge the governments of the UK to work together to find a solution which will allow students’ work to be recognised and allow them to progress.”

Ms Mohamad Noor warned that using predicted grades would “rob” thousands of students who outperform their predictions of future opportunities and has urged for another solution to be found.