Will No-one Think Of The Children?

Mrs Banks asked this of her seemingly perfect nanny, Mary Poppins - and Helen Lovejoy [the Pastor's wife] said it in the Simpsons. And now I am saying it too. The Government has created a total and utter fiasco. I have spent over 60 years in the education system, as a student, and as a professional. I have seen some appalling government decisions, affecting the lives and careers of dozens of people. But this current state of affairs is awful, by far the worst time to be at school - whether staff or student. 

I feel so desperately sad for young people working conscientiously to become doctors, nurses, dentists, teachers,vets... all on course for their chosen profession - and with predicted grades recognising their abilities, and university places offered on that basis. And 25000 of them have been given new grades, falling 2 or more places below those predictions.This ridiculous algorithm for the A level results is obviously skewed. If you are an extremely bright pupil, in a school not known for producing genius kids, you're stuffed, mate.

And the universities don't know what to do - their funding is affected by which/how many students they take. So they cannot just say "come anyway" or they may face financial penalties they can ill afford. And just don't get me started on the Brexit/Erasmus disaster.

Right now, my own children are beyond A levels, and my grandchildren too young for school. But this weekend has had a significant impact on our family nonetheless. The majority of University Staff are still working from home, and now the workload has changed and increased significantly. So Bob will finish his holiday and drive back to Dorset without me - and Rosie will be coming back to Grandma's Nursery School for another fortnight.

We are fortunate to have this option - so many families, already struggling, have been torn apart over the past few days. My thoughts and prayers are with them, and their teachers.