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Coronavirus West Berkshire: Summer term blues




Coronavirus outbreak means school leavers will miss out on exams and proms

The dresses have been bought and the cars booked, but for many young people there is now no prospect of attending their school proms.
They are the pupils who won’t get to sit their exams; won’t get to enjoy that final day in school; won’t get their graduations.
For thousands of Year 11 and Year 13 students up and down the district, the end of years of hard work has been a bit of an anti-climax.
Although nobody is certain how the grades will now be calculated, it seems that a mixture of teacher assessments, mock results and previous performance will be taken into consideration.
The only thing they do know, is that they will all still receive an A-level, AS-level or GCSE grade.
For Lucy, who is in Year 11 at a Newbury school, the biggest feeling at the moment is shock and annoyance.
“I really didn’t think they would cancel the exams,” she said.
“Everyone has been revising for the last month now and we all just wanted to sit our exams.
“It was just a waste of the last five years. Everything had worked up to this.
“We won’t get that preparation of knowing what it’s like to sit exams to take into our A-levels now either.”
Lucy, who intends to study for her A-levels before heading to university and then embarking on a career in the Navy, said that all the teachers at her school have been just as disappointed as the students.
“We are not having a graduation or prom anymore and most people have already bought their dresses; I have,” she said.
“The teachers have said they will try to do something in September for us, but it just depends what is happening then.
“Everyone wanted that long summer break and the sense of achievement.”
Her classmate, Imogen, said it was “frustrating, annoying and disappointing” that they wouldn’t now have the opportunity to prove themselves.
Imogen, who lives in Newbury, added: “After all this time, the exams were what we were all working up to. I am a bit nervous; it’s just all a bit strange.
“Our teachers have been really supportive and I don’t think they expected this to happen either.”
With university places resting on A-level results, upper sixth student Daniel admitted the whole situation is “very strange”.
However Daniel, who goes to school in Reading, said things had carried on pretty much as normal for him and his classmates since the lockdown.
“It is very strange at the moment, but not much different for me as it’s not like school has totally finished,” he explained.
“I have been doing online live lessons, or teachers are setting work to be completed during the lesson time.
“We have assessments next week to see where we are right now too.
“There is a lack of a sense of fulfilment for not completing the exams, but in the end I’m sure it won’t really be that different.”
Ofqual, the exam regulator, has said it hopes the results will be available on or before the usual August dates.

Primary pupils’ final day is an anti-climax

It isn’t just secondary school pupils who have suffered.
For Year 6 pupils, their first experience of school has now come to a very abrupt end.
All the discos, parties, assemblies and residential trips they were looking forward to have been cancelled and, for many children, they will never return to a classroom with the friends they have known their entire school lives.
One pupil trying to come to terms with the end of an era is Georgina Brown, who has celebrated her 11th birthday in lockdown.
She said: “It feels really weird. I feel sort of happy because we have just left school, but I felt sad because if it was our last day and we won’t see some of our friends again.
“There was hardly anyone at school on the last day.
“We have done a lot of practice for our SATs, but now we won’t sit the tests, although I am happy that we don’t have to do them because there is a lot of pressure taken off of us now.
“I quite want to still do the Year 6 disco or maybe meet up and have a Year 6 bowling or something.”
Fellow pupil Esme White said: “I am happy that we are not going to school, but it is scary to think it is because of a virus.
“I did kind of want to know what it was like to do your SATs and whether I could have done better than my older brother.
“On our last day we were standing on the tables, which was fun, but it is really sad that it was our last day seeing our friends for a long time.”
Esme’s mother Amy White said she experienced a lot of emotions on that final day, as schools shut their doors for the foreseeable future.
She said: “I thought it was a really cruel way to end their time at primary school and was just really sad for them all.
“There’s no final school residential or end-of-year play for them to look forward to now.
“Their headteacher was fantastic though and she let them all stay outside school for as long as they wanted on the last day, taking photos and signing their shirts.”

Support available

If you or a young person you know is currently struggling with the changes that the pandemic has brought to their lives, please remember there are a number of places to go for support.

A dedicated telephone helpline for young people has been set up in West Berkshire.

The West Berkshire Council helpline, which is linked to its Emotional Health Academy (EHA), offers the district’s young people self-help support, advice and guidance from trained workers.

The EHA offers early intervention to tackle mental health and low-level emotional health issues in young people.

The helpline provides access to trained EHA workers to provide support to manage ‘low level’ problems.

It allows young people aged between 11 and 18 to express their concerns and talk about issues directly affecting them during the coronavirus crisis.

The EHA helpline is open between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Young people aged 11 to 18 can use it to access advice and support by calling 01635 503587.

Both the Childline and Mind charities also have a lot of advice and support available on their websites. Click on the charity name to go straight to the right page.

If you are finding things tough, please don’t struggle alone. There are people out there who can and want to help.



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