Mr Jansen, Headteacher, wished to advise you about the Government’s announcement to cancel this year’s GCSE examinations.

GCSE students will be awarded a grade which fairly reflects the work that they have put into their qualifications up until our school closure.

Marshland teachers will be asked to submit their judgement about the grade that they believe a student would have received if their exams had gone ahead (predicted grades). These predictions will be based on evidence from their Pre-Public Examinations (mocks) and on any non-examined assessment of student work including coursework and/or controlled assessments.

The Examination Boards will then combine this with their information on students' prior attainment (Key Stage 2 SATs results) along with other statistical data to calculate a grade for each student in each subject they were entered for. The Examination Boards will also ensure the same distribution of grades (that is how many students achieved a particular grade in a subject) for this year, as was achieved in last year’s examination season.

Students will be able to appeal any grade decision. Any student not satisfied with the grade they are awarded will have an opportunity to sit an examination as soon as reasonably possible.

We will of course write out to you again should any further update be available.

Our Year 11 students must continue to study throughout the next few months, to ensure you are in the best possible position to start post-16 studies. If you fail to prepare for September, you will find the transition to post-16 unnecessarily difficult.

Remember to focus particularly on those subjects you intend to pursue, taking the opportunity to undertake wider reading and visiting school and college websites for any preparatory work. You can work your way through items on Show My Homework as well (if you have access problems email d.lucas@marshlandhigh.co.uk

We particularly understand that our Year 11 students have not had the opportunity to have a celebratory event with their friends to mark leaving Marshland. As a consequence, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our commitment to inviting Year 11 students to a Prom at some point in the future.

Mr C Jansen
Headteacher