Leeds City Council sends its congratulations to students picking up GCSE results after "a really difficult year"

Leeds City Council has sent "huge congratulations" to GCSE students across the city who picked up their results today.
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After an uncertain week which started with fears that many students would be down-graded, as their A Level counterparts were due to government moderation, there were celebrations at secondary schools around the city.

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Read More: Leeds students terrified by prospect of modified GCSE results

More than one in four (25.9 per cent) GCSE entries in England scored one of the three top grades this year, up from just over a fifth (20.7 per cent) last summer, figures from exams regulator Ofqual show.

The day students have been waiting for at Morley Academy.The day students have been waiting for at Morley Academy.
The day students have been waiting for at Morley Academy.
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Coun Jonathan Pryor, executive board member for learning, skills and employment said: “Students receiving their results today deserve huge congratulations on their hard work, effort and determination, especially during what has been a really difficult year for everyone in schools and learning settings.

"It is a shame that formal assessments were not able to take place and that students had to deal with increasing uncertainty about the grading process. I hope that now they have clarity, young people can look forward to their future as they embark on their next steps."

He added that if pupils were unsure what to do next then schools and colleges are on hand to offer additional advice and guidance and that additional support is available to young people from the Start in Leeds website.

To produce estimated grades grades, teachers at schools across the city looked at a range of information including class work and the results of mock exams.

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A council spokesperson said that after being put through a standardisation process, "a considerable amount" of grades were downgraded but the government u-turn on Monday meant students were awarded the original teacher assessed grades, unless the computer algorithm gave a higher one.

Results from this year’s exams will not be collated and used by the Government in performance tables, or by Ofsted to inform inspection judgements due to the situation this year meaning that a school or centre’s performance cannot meaningfully be compared or evaluated against performance in previous years.

Schools minister Nick Gibb apologised to students on this morning for the "pain and the anxiety" they felt prior to this week's exam grading U-turn.

Another change this year was that traditional A*-G GCSE grades have been scrapped and replaced in England with a 9-1 system with 9 the highest result. A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade, and a 7 broadly equivalent to an A.

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