CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE WHO GOT A LEVEL RESULTS TODAY

Congratulations to everyone who got A level results today. As a parent, it’s important to be positive about the results no matter what and to remind your children that even if they didn’t get into the university/foundation course/apprenticeship course/job of their choice, that there’s a big world out that and that their newly planned paths are not always as clear and straightforward as they think they’re going to be. We all know that sometimes, on reflection, it is the “failures” that become the forks in the road that you look back on and think THANK GOD that happened, because otherwise I would never have met so-and-so, or found a new direction, or lived there, or found a happiness that I couldn’t have imagined or whatever…

This year, I was under the impression that A levels had been “decoupled” from AS levels in order to avoid there being such a focus on coursework – yet my son’s friends did AS levels as per normal at several schools, so results came out for them today too. Not all of them have made it through to the final year and will have to make other plans, but how is it that some schools have abandoned them and others have continued? It all seems quite a mess. The GCSE’s are going to be even more confusing when they come out, with the new 1-9 marking scheme (at least I think that’s what it is). Why can’t everybody stop changing things?

It’s such a shame that all the papers are full of the news today that A level pupils will get into top courses with lower grades this year, owing to a “glut” of places. How do they think that is going to make the pupils feel who have worked so hard to get where they want to be? Psychologically, it’s not good for them to feel they got in more easily than those who got in a few years ago. Why don’t they just say “universities open their arms to welcome more students this year – it’s a buyers market, relax and take your time, you are in control”. OR maybe they could just tell us the truth – that the 4% dip in applications is in fact mainly due to the fact that there are less 18 year olds to apply this year. No one tells you that do they? Neither is the dip evenly spread. The universities demanding high grades have reported a 2% increase in applications, so it’s the institutions requesting medium results that are down 4% and those with the lowest demands have dropped by 9%. So actually, perhaps that it’s just that our children are getting cleverer? Additionally, as there is no longer any limit on the number of students that universities can take, surely another angle could be that it’s just that universities are now being overly greedy because they can get so much more money per student because of the fees they all now have to pay. I’ve even heard this year that certain universities are offering top students cash incentives to stay, even if they got better results than expected.

Hopefully most of you are busy out celebrating – it’s great that clearing should be more fruitful this year – at least that’s a positive. I know some kids who will be looking at doing something different – I have seen a few Facebook messages along the lines of “OMG, my results spell ‘DUDE'” and “how to tell your parents you’ve failed” …. but no matter what, give your children a big hug and a pat on the back.