Exam cancellations: 'Has all my work gone down the drain?'

With A-Levels and GCSE exams cancelled, school pupils are heading into another year shrouded with uncertainty.

Some students are questioning if their work "has gone down the drain" while others are relieved exams have been axed.

On Wednesday, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that teachers' estimated grades will be used to replace cancelled exams.

BBC News spoke to pupils following the news to get their views.

Georgia Fuge, 15, said while she was relieved her GCSE exams had been cancelled, she feels like her "hard work has been wasted".

"I think that ultimately this is the fairest decision for every person in my position," she said.

"However, to some extent, I feel like my hard work has been wasted somewhat, not only for the last two years but my whole school career.

"Even from primary school we are reminded that in the end it comes down to our GCSEs at the end of Year 11 and I almost feel like I haven't had a proper chance to prove myself."

Georgia, who attends independent Redmaids' High School in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, added that during such an "uncertain" year, the main part of school that she missed was not being able to see and support friends, particularly those whose who struggled through the first lockdown "with not ideal family situations and deaths of close relatives".

"Just seeing their faces in person is enough to tell me whether they're feeling all right that day and lockdown has had, and will have, a huge effect on that."

Daisy Hodge, 15, who also attends Redmaids' High School in Bristol said: "I was glad they were cancelled, but at the same time I thought considering I have been having online lessons all the way through, I've been put in quite a good position and I know that if I had done the exams I probably would have done well.

"I've put in all of this hard work and if I'm not going to get the grades to reflect that, has all my work just gone down the drain?

"I know a lot of people who would cram a couple months before their exams and I think those are the people who are most stressed at the moment because they have realised they have to do a lot more work now to get their grade up just in case.

Aden Harris, 15, from Fishponds, Bristol, is in year 11 at Winterbourne Academy. He was due to sit his GCSEs this summer.

"I feel anxious and relieved at the announcement," he said.

"We missed months and months last year along with weeks of self-isolation this year, and huge disruption with teachers having to self-isolate to the point where we missed such big gaps in the curriculum, that sitting any sort of exam just wouldn't work because there would be whole sections we couldn't answer."

Aden said it was "inevitable" that exams would be cancelled but "it's a shame" it took the government so long to make the decision.

He added the last year has been full of stress and anxiety felt by him and his friends.

"It's been really hard, we had those months at the start where you couldn't go anywhere and it was really isolating and really stressful," he said.

"We then had that brief period where we thought we might go back for a couple of weeks at the end which we didn't and not being able to do the normal things like going to parties or going to gigs, it was really not great for anybody's mental health at all."

While GCSEs and A-Levels have been cancelled, vocational exams are still expected to go ahead this month in England.

A-level student Jacob Tait, from Stroud, is campaigning for BTecs exams to be cancelled.

The politics, maths and chemistry student said while he was pleased his A-level exams had been cancelled, it was "immoral" for vocational exams to go ahead as normal.

"We'd like BTecs to be on the same footing as GCSEs and A-Levels," he said.

"It's just unfair because we've missed at least 12 weeks of teaching, that's about three months.

"In different areas of the country different schools have been in lockdown for different amounts of time and people in different socioeconomic backgrounds have had different access to equipment.

"We've had a really good response online and with signature lists and we will be sending letters to our MPs."