Fulston Manor students, along with others across the country, are today collecting their A Level results following the most extraordinary examination series ever. After Tuesday’s last minute announcement by the government that students could in some way “choose” between the grade they have currently been awarded by a centrally administered algorithm or the one they received in their mock exams (with a third option of sitting papers in October) it is not even possible at present to produce any sort of definitive overall list of grades for the school.

Executive Headteacher Alan Brookes was clear in his frustration and unhappiness at what has occurred. “It is obvious that the system put into place has not led to fair outcomes for many students and has failed to prioritise young people over a desire to achieve some sort of national statistical model. In particular, the process fails to recognise adequately those students whose hard work has allowed them to make significant progress over the past two years. The last gasp suggestion that mock grades could be used instead is unlikely to provide any meaningful assistance for students and I am disappointed that the government has not followed the lead from Scotland in using Centre Assessment Grades as the final outcome.

Despite all of the difficulties, it is wonderful to see how well the students have done in these most challenging of times and to recognise the role that staff and parents have played in this. Congratulations are due to all of Fulston’s students, with the following achieving particularly outstanding results: