Hampshire headteachers’ GCSE concerns for returning Year 10 pupils

While students will be able to get some ‘face-to-face time’ with teachers from the middle of June, the earliest whole cohorts can return is now expected to be September. Even this was cast into doubt during Monday’s press briefing after health secretary, Matt Hancock, conceded secondary schools in England may not fully reopen until ‘September at the earliest’.

This would leave GCSE students having missed at least five months of full-time schooling – the equivalent of around one-and-half terms. With no announcement as yet from exam boards as to how they will compensate for this, it has left headteachers concerned about the impact on pupils’ attainment.

With the prospect of trying to cram five-terms worth of learning into three-and-a-half, Park Community School is considering reducing the number of subject options studied by children in Year 11.

Headteacher, Chris Anders, said: ‘We are looking at teaching our core subjects and then reducing pupils option choice subjects from four to two. Studying less subjects will allow us time to compensate for the time missed and to cover the necessary content.’

Mr Anders’ concerns are shared by St Edmund’s Catholic School headteacher, Simon Graham.

Mr Graham said: ‘We have to accept that for children in Year 10 it’s going to be a difficult year. Our job is to rise to the challenge and fill in the gaps in their learning as much as possible.’

While teachers have been setting online work and have now started running virtual lessons, concerns remain as to levels of participation and inequalities in learning due to variation in access to technology and parental support.

Headteacher at Horndean Technology College, Julie Summerfield, said: ‘We carried out a survey with our Year 10 pupils and many of them said they are missing that live interaction with teachers. While staff do follow things up, we are also aware that not all pupils are doing the online work which has been set.’

For Priory school headteacher, Stewart Vaughan, the impact on current Year 10 pupils could be even greater than for Year 11 students who were unable to sit their exams.

Mr Vaughan said: ‘Year 10 are in a very compromised position. It’s not just about grades but also about completing their learning. At least Year 11 pupils were able to finish the majority of their subjects.’

SEE ALSO: Portsmouth headteachers reveal how they will manage coronavirus risk as only a quarter of primary schools widen opening

Headteachers across the region are calling for exam boards to put together a plan as to how they intend to compensate for pupils’ missed learning. With many schools having already taught different units at different times it’s not just a case of reducing course content.

Mr Graham said: ‘Hopefully exam boards look at how questions can be delivered which isn’t quite so broad and students can express their own sections of knowledge.’

Whatever exam boards do decide, the consensus amongst headteachers is the need to know proposals ‘well before the summer holidays’ in order to effectively plan for the next academic year.

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