Another ‘unique’ results day at St Margaret’s CE Academy
by Educate Magazine August 21, 2020 · All News / Secondary School News
St Margaret’s CE Academy often witnesses scenes of great jubilation at this time of year. Students anxiously tear open the envelopes containing their results, and far more often than not, they break out with broad smiles or whoops of joy when they see what they have achieved. Staff, too, join in the celebration as another generation of students achieve highly in their external exams.
From that point of view, this year was no different. Many of their Year 11 students celebrated another bumper crop of exam results, with large numbers achieving the grades they need to progress to a sixth form or to an apprenticeship.
Stephen Brierley, the Academy’s principal, said: “It is fantastic to see so many of our students beaming broadly and celebrating the fruits of their labours – and it is immensely gratifying for our staff too, all of whom have worked so hard to give each student the best possible outcomes at the end of their compulsory education.
“We’re deeply proud of the fact that so many of our students are now choosing to stay on into our Sixth Form too, as we begin our enrolment”.
But from every other point of view, the day proved to be very different from a ‘normal’ results day. Stephen said: “The boys in Year 11 were still invited into school to collect their results, but they had to queue in a socially-distanced manner – eventually receiving their results outside the school building, not inside it. And of course, the students were collecting exam results for exams they never sat, thanks to the restrictions brought in to combat Covid-19.
“The virus may be small, but it’s certainly cast a big shadow over our two results days this year”.
Stephen Brierley welcomed the Government’s decision to use the grades teachers had estimated, pointing out that individual teachers are best-placed to say how much their pupils have learnt in each subject.
But for now, he was keen to ensure that St Margaret’s students rightly took their place centre-stage. “Our Year 11s have achieved so much during their time here, and we are immensely proud of the contribution they’ve made to our wonderful St Margaret’s family”.
