Students across Derbyshire next year need 'as little upset to learning as possible' say teachers
It's so they have the best chance during exam season next year
Last updated 13th Aug 2021
An executive principal at an Academy Trust-which has a school in Derbyshire-has warned there can't be the same level of disruption to teaching next year as there has been in the last 18 months.
It's as today - due to closures and isolations - students will get their GCSE results despite not having sat any exams.
However, it is still not known whether GCSE and A Level exams will go ahead next year as lots of pupils have missed out on core teaching due to the pandemic.
Lynn James, from Outwood Academy-which has a secondary school in Chesterfield-is calling for clarity as soon as possible.
She said: "We shouldn't allow the disruption that has happened to be a permanent disruption.
"We should use what we've learnt from that to empower their future education and I think this last year has helped students to appreciate the importance of education in their lives.
"I do hope that early on in the academy year in the autumn term that we have a really clear view that we're working towards exams but what the contingency will be if the pandemic does throw up any more changes.
"We need to highlight any issues with their health or isolation that might have to happen in the next academic year and that we have got that understanding that in a time of great difference not all of them will get the same experience.
"So, children need to feel confident, and we need to praise them so they know that their experience for the last five or seven years has been validated."
The coronavirus pandemic brought an abrupt end to children's studies a matter of months into their GCSE and A Level studies, with online and home learning soon becoming the norm.
Now, for the second year running, students have been unable to sit their exams with their results dependent on teacher assessments instead.
This decision was made so it was fair for students who had missed out on learning whole syllabuses due to isolation and lost teaching.