Of course, all school children are entitled to an education.
However, as a Sixth-Form student in my final year, the short timespan of sixth-form being a 2 year period has shown me that perhaps sixth-form and college students should be the first and only year groups to return.
Year 7s, 8s, 9s and 10s, although children, have far more teacher oversight than sixth form and college students who are expected to be far more independent, and also the benefit of far more GCSE preparation time, therefore should be expected to stay at home and pursue online classes.
This issue of the current government’s generalisation of year groups has therefore been an immense issue, especially for those college students who have missed out on in person learning and are planning to endulge on a £9,000 per year tuition that is University.
Some may argue that Sixth-Form students must work to be the independent, Uni-ready adults that they will need to become, and that maybe the lockdown and working from-home is a form of practice for future work life.
Yes, okay, to an extent lockdown has prepared University students for adult and independent life in the future.
Though, without sixth-form students being able to return for this pandemic, that is only temporary, such sixth form students will be stained for the rest of their lives in relation to expecting and revising for the importance of exams.
I can also say this with certainty, that if the year 7 and 8 students had not come back into school at the same time as A-Level and GCSE students, many schools across the UK would not have had as much soaring cases. My school and sixth-form in particular had its first cases come from two year 8s.
These are younger students, who are not at immediate risk of not receiving their university place due to a lack of one to one teacher attention and tutoring.
Therefore, I am simply asking for GCSE and A-Level student prioritisation, and for year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students to carry on with their online classes that will ensure they do not miss out in valuable learning time.
Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students have been overreacted in their importance, and the fact that they have been compared to A-Level and year 11 students, who are sitting their GCSE exams is atrocious and something must change.
1703-11