The Results are in!

Many of you out there may have experienced your son or daughter receiving their GCSE and A-Level grades - even as recently as this week.

I think I can consider myself an expert! Having now had the experience of both a GCSE and A-Level expectant parent morning, similar to that of the journey to the hospital for your first child, it is something of a bizarre moment that will certainly stay with me.

I remember the GCSE results was a fairly calm day. The build up was pretty easy, our son went through the GCSE exams with real positivity and felt pretty happy throughout. On results day, he was able to meet up with his mates and collect his grades in person and share the success together. It’s always great to have a positive result and he was super happy with the outcome (as we were too). It also seemed pretty stress free. An expectation and an inner knowledge that the grades would be good. The world was a bit more normal back then!

This week our son has just completed what can only be described as an odd year 12 and 13 or lower and upper 6th in my old fashioned world. This should have been a time to build new friendships and to build a more specific pathway towards your next journey and career path. However, managing your way through this in a global pandemic must not have been easy. I would say out of the two years, he’s spent about 18 months at home…. Now I’m not saying he’s minded that much! Let’s compare - up at 07:00 for the 08:00 train, back on the 15:00 train home - compared to - let’s get up at any old time and put the PlayStation on! Not exactly much of a choice!

That’s a little harsh of me... Generally schools and colleges have been great through the pandemic. Both of our kids have had plenty of work to do and have been absolutely fantastic through this period. They make us very proud.

Back to the results. So following all the great work he’d done through the two years and although grades this year were determined by the teacher assessments, our son did a number of end of topic tests and a final test at the end of the final year - basically the A-Level exam without the title - known as a Common Test. This all then gets compiled to create the A-Level results. I guess the best you can ask for during such an unsettled and peculiar time.

So the build up to results day was very different as this is the step to becoming an adult. They turn 18, get a drivers license and the vote! As for the education piece, they go through the process of selecting a university of choice and then a back up just in case the grades aren’t as expected. All very serious and really makes them think about their future. Our son has always had a very strong view on his next steps and the pathway to get there so for us this was well planned, with a little cajoling needed to ensure the right sites were accessed and the UCAS page updated ready for the results. Then, with the uni of choice having returned the conditional offer - you are all set.

The night before everyone feels a little apprehensive. You know the results will land at 08:30 on the college intranet. Dinner doesn’t quite sit as well as usual and the glass of wine, which would normally be enjoyed; tastes a little strange. Ok, early night tonight, let’s get a good nights' kip. Well, that’s the idea! The problem is that you just cannot sleep - tossing and turning all night thinking about what grades he might get and what the complication of “clearing” might be if it doesn’t go to plan. The night before you had written a list of all the steps needed should things not go well and how he would need to call the uni to check if they would accept his results - or get on to 'clearing' and look for alternatives if his second choice was missed too. Maybe that’s because of my own and my wife’s experiences…

So morning eventually comes and with bleary eyes you walk down stairs to make the first cuppa of the day. Not long to wait now you think. This is when the sick feeling starts. Especially my wife “I can’t drink that tea, I feel sick” she says as you bring her the skilfully made morning cuppa (always the best of the day). As you consider your choice for breakfast again the response is “I can’t eat anything, I feel sick”. “Come on, what will be will be, we can’t change anything now” you respond to try and calm the nerves.

Well when 08:30 comes and goes and there is still no sign of your son coming downstairs to share the results, a little bit of panic sets in. “He’s not down, that’s bad, he’s not got what he’s needed” is my wife’s immediate response. “Why isn’t he down yet” and “we need to call clearing”. "Calm down, calm down" I reply to try and maintain some order.

Then comes the creaky footsteps on the ceiling above, the morning toilet flush, and the footsteps down the stairs as the teenager awakes and makes his way into the “arena”. The 'crowd' of two shout “so go on, tell us, what did you get, how did it go?”.

Unbelievably and after a short pause “Oh, sorry, I haven’t looked yet” is the moderately frustrating reply. “You haven’t, looked it’s 08:45 and we are here going crazy!” “Oh sorry, let me look now.” “Yes, yes best you do look now…” you respond with a little disbelief.

With that butterfly feeling still in your stomach, the teenager takes his phone from his pocket - again there is a pause... then the smile grows wider and his head raises from the phone to simply say “yes, I got the place at the uni I wanted”.

“Hooray” you both cheer. “Well done you - and the grades?” “Oh, I haven’t looked at that, I just went on the UCAS login and the uni has messaged me to congratulate me and confirming my place.”

“Are you serious, go and look at the grades too” you shout.

So he proceeds to access the college intranet and the smile grows wider still - “oh that’s pretty good, I’m happy with that”. And with that, he glides across the living room floor to turn on the PlayStation, with his head held high and a spring in his step.

You both grab him to give him a big hug and congratulate him. My wife starts crying and everyone has a big hug. “Really well done, we are so proud” you congratulate him. “Make sure you accept the place and get things completed”.

His response.... Yep, will do but do I have to do it right now? I’d like some Crunchy Nuts and the PlayStation is ready?”

Kids…sorry teenagers!

What a result. All the best to those expectant parents - I hope all went well and your teenagers got the grades they needed.