ALMOST 30,000 pupils in the North of Ireland will receive their GCSE results today, Thursday August 20.
The results were to be made available to students from 8 am
However, some parents in Derry were left bemused when they were told yesteray that some schools in the city were not releasing the results from after 12.30 pm today.
Some pupils re not getting their results until 1.30pm!
Parents said they were told that this was because schools in Derry were giving students their results “class by class”.
The results will be issued just days after Education Minister Peter Weir said they would be solely based on grades provided by schools.
He later made a similar decision on A-level and AS grades which had already been awarded to students.
Revised A-level and AS grades will now be made available to pupils on Friday.
However, pupils expecting BTec results will not get them.
The exam board Pearson pulled the results on Wednesday and said it would be re-grade all its BTecs to bring them in line with A-levels and GCSEs.
As a result of the changes to GCSEs, the number of top grades is likely to rise in all qualifications.
The proportion of entries at GCSE awarded A* – C grades in Northern Ireland was already high, at 82.2% of all entries in 2019.
That is expected to increase significantly under the changed arrangements announced by Mr Weir.
For instance, under the A-level changes the proportion of A* and A grades rose from 32.8% of all entries to just under 44%.
In a letter to principals on Thursday, Mr Weir said it had been a “tumultuous and unprecedented week”.
“There were, and are, no perfect solutions,” he wrote.
“Students would have preferred to have taken their exams, but that was simply not possible in the circumstances.
“It is now clear that this year must be seen as truly unique.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has turned our society upside down and has had far reaching consequences for our young people.
“It cannot fairly be compared to previous years and that is why a different approach has now been adopted right across the United Kingdom.”
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