Isle of Wight mother, Becca Cameron, has been particularly vocal on social media since the A-Level results were released last week. Her son had been downgraded from predicted grades of A*BB to A*CD and she intended to fight his corner.
The downgrading of his A-levels resulted in her son losing a place at his first choice of university, Bath, who would not honour their original offer.
Becca says her son’s grades should have been higher, but he had a virus when he took his mocks early back in January. She added,
“If that had been an real exam, we could have put in extenuating circumstances.”
Cameron: “For some the damage cannot be undone”
Becca went on to say,
“At least it has been put right finally, it caused so much heartache and upset and for some the damage cannot be undone. I am pleased everyone complained so much that it stopped the same happening for the GCSEs.
“I put in formal complaint to the education department, MPs and so many others. A lot of parents didn’t want to broadcast their children’s results, but as my son was so upset he asked me to help him fight and help his friends.”
Stuart: Utterly unwilling to admit mistakes and take bold action
Chair of the Isle of Wight Liberal Democrats, Nick Stuart, said,
“The Government U-turn on A-Level grades and GCSE results is welcome but late; really late…. too late.
“We have seen Ministers in panic mode. In spite of clear guidance from the Liberal Democrats and others on how to deal with this nonsense.
“The announcement of using mock grades the day before the A-Level results, the fiasco over appeal guidance being withdrawn this Saturday within less than 24 hours are typical of a Government utterly unwilling to admit mistakes and take bold action.”
Stuart: Government’s “cowardly incompetence”
Nick went on to add,
“Their cowardly incompetence has put students, parents and schools under enormous strain wasting large amounts of time with serious effects. There are lasting consequences for students including not getting onto courses that are now full or even falling out of education.
“The unfolding disaster has been flagged up for many weeks but nothing happened so we now see the baked in disadvantage to State Schools and Colleges having real impacts on the lives of normal people.”
Hope for cohorts
Becca finished by saying,
“My son’s friends all had their grades upped and they are so happy, so we are hoping that they will get into their chosen Universities. I think that is going to take a few days to sort out.”
Stuart: Fence-sitting behaviour of MP
Nick Stuart hit out against the Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Bob Seely, saying,
“On the Isle of Wight the fence-sitting behaviour of Bob Seely MP, who issued a mealy mouthed response is evidence of his lack of focus on what matters to the community he should serve. It shows what we all know, whatever he says he will follow the Party line until the bitter end.
“Given his record there is little hope that Bob will call out the Minister for his repeated stubborn failures.
“The Liberal Democrats would suggest a simple apology to the students, parents and schools on behalf of himself and his Government colleagues would help. While a change of approach would be better.”
Image: Jesus Rodriguez under CC BY 2.0
