To Whom It May Concern,

On behalf of the Vth and Upper Sixth form, we are extremely grateful and satisfied with the care and effort that every member of staff has put forth towards our learning for the last year. Although we cannot relate to the teachers, we all share a great deal of sympathy for the staff who have gone the extra mile during the pandemic, despite the hardships faced.

However, a vast majority of us share concerns about the Teacher Assessment process sent to us by Mr Dannatt. With the benefit of a well thought-out and efficient remote learning campaign, teachers have been able to carry out tests since last year which have allowed them to gather accurate and clear evidence to be used in the case of teacher assessment. As such, we share the belief that organising 2 sets of exams is unnecessary, as teachers have adequate and strong evidence to predict our final grades. Another concern that we share is the insufficient length of time between exams, which puts immense amounts of pressure on students and will effect both their motivation and mental health vastly. We acknowledge the tight window to complete teacher assessed grades, however we also have strong concern that teachers have sufficient evidence and therefore 2 rounds of testing is both unnecessary and the 3 week time period between them does not allow for students to both recover and prepare.

In addition, we also conclude that the programme leaves very little to no room to have a life outside of school, as 6 of the next 11 weeks during school will need to be spent vigorously revising, with the other 5 being allocated to examinations.

As a student body, we believe that it is only fair that we sit one set of exams, instead of two. We understand that since 1988, GCSEs and A-levels have been standard protocol and that their alternatives must go ahead. However this year is completely different, as students have battled through the hardships and isolation of lockdown, have endured the uncertainty behind the possibility of exams with confidence and optimism and now must show incredible resilience to complete 2 rounds of difficult tests while showing the motivation to revise throughout: a feat that is unnecessary.

With that being said, we hope you consider our proposed plan with an open mindset.

Sincerely,

The Vth and Upper Sixth Form

Takeaways to think about:

• 5 out of 11 of the next weeks will be spent doing examinations
• Both mock exams and summer assessments will require students to complete 20 GCSE/A-level similarl exams in 2 weeks on 2 separate occasions
• Between exams, students only have 3 weeks, a vast majority of which will be spent solely on revision.