THE plan for teachers to grade students who would normally have been sitting A-levels and GCSE exams this summer has been welcomed.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed in the House of Commons that the Government would not be using its controversial algorithm following a backlash in the wake of Year 13 gradings last year.

This summer’s exams have already been cancelled because of the pandemic.

Instead, teachers will use coursework, in-class tests, optional questions provided by exam boards and mock exams as evidence for results given to pupils.

Royal Wootton Bassett Academy Trust CEO George Croxford said: “It’s far better than the ludicrous algorithm that they used last year. It was such a disaster, it cost too many students their university place and that can never happen again.

“It needs to have very clear boundaries in place but I like the fact it’s an assessment of students by teachers. I hope that every school will use the exam board questions to test students,” he told the Gazette.

Results will be published earlier than normal, with A-levels on August 10 and GCSEs on August 12 to allow time for students to appeal.

Rupert Moreton, the headteacher of Malmesbury School, and believes that teacher-assessed grades is the best option for students with the current circumstances.

He said: “This is obviously a challenging time for all our staff, students and parents. We will do our utmost to ensure that the process is as fair and rigorous as possible.

"Teacher assessed grades is the best option at this stage given how much time our students have missed school recently.”

We asked readers what they thought of the decision – but not everyone is on board.

Lily Manns said: “I disagree because when I was at school I was failing all the mock exams and then when it came to real ones, I came out with As and Bs because I revised for the exams.”

Katie Brewer added: “I think you get very clever kids that mess around, usually because they are bored, in school but you put them in the exams and they excel.”

And Jen Rollinson said: “My daughter had to finish Year 11 in the first lockdown and she didn’t get to do her exams and the results she got were nowhere near what she was predicted.”