Brighton and Hove headteachers praise pupils’ resilience

In an unprecedented move, the heads of Brighton and Hove’s secondary schools issued a joint statement praising students for their “hard work and endeavour”.

They said pupils’ GCSE grades were based on “the professional opinion and expertise of school staff”.

“Students have coped with huge disruption to their learning and the uncertainty over how they would be issued grades and what their progression to post-16 study would involve,” the statement read.

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“Staff have shown great integrity in issuing grades that they felt reflected the hard work and endeavour shown by students and all grades were carefully considered.

“Grades have been issued to students not on the basis of exam performance but on the professional opinion and expertise of school staff.

“It is not a day to celebrate the successes of individual schools, it is a day to celebrate the hard work, talent and skill of all of our Year 11 students and all of our school staff.

“We are collectively proud of our students, and proud of our staff.”

Brighton and Hove City Council education chief Councillor Hannah Clare said pupils’ results are a “true reflection of their abilities”.

Brighton and Hove City Council education chief Councillor Hannah Clare

“After all our students have been through in recent months because of coronavirus, I want GCSE results day to be a time for our young people to finally be able to celebrate their achievements and move on positively to the next phase of their lives,” the Green councillor said.

“I’m deeply saddened that they have been facing extra anxiety caused by the Government’s catastrophic handling of the exam grading system.

“However, I am relieved by the assurance that exam boards can only moderate grades up from the teacher assessments, not down.

“Our secondary schools have done an amazing job.”