Schools closed. Exams cancelled. It seems like the education system has come to a sudden halt. As year 11 and 13s, who were earnestly revising, suddenly watched all their hard work come to nothing.
Late afternoon on Wednesday 18th March 2020 as students trudged home from school, it was announced that GCSEs and A Levels will be cancelled for the first time in the history of exams. And all schools were to be closed from Friday evening.
On Friday 20th March 2020, it was the last day of school. The shortest academic year ever. There was a frenzied atmosphere in the air. Students hugged for what may be the last time as tears streamed down their eyes. And they rapidly wrote goodbye comments on each other's shirts months earlier than they should have done. And there were the final lessons. The lessons that felt pointless but yet had to take place. Saying goodbye hastily to the teachers who had helped them so much as they builded up to the big day when exams would start, which would now never happen. There was the last assembly when the teachers’ waved farewell hurriedly and wished them good luck in the future. All of them left in uncertainty as to what the future held for them sick and tired of the word ‘unprecedented’.
That evening, the government revealed that marks will be decided based on the teachers’ opinions by taking into account mock exams grades, homework and classwork. For some, it was a relief. But for others, like myself, it may not be as joyful. Many do not take mock exams as seriously because it is not the real thing. The mock exam is more of a wake up call and serious revision would begin after then. After all, we are told not to stress by teachers and that it is acceptable to make mistakes as long as we learn from it by the time it's the real exam. There is now the option to take the exam in September if you are not happy with the results you get in the Summer.
Now, students sit devastated at home. Set mountains of work by teachers despite there being no exams. Students that were promised a long summer now have many months at home to sit and wait for the coronavirus to end. There’s now no prom. No last day. No real results’ day. It seems that everything that was expected has now been removed.
