Dear Year 11,
At the time of writing you have completed 2,576 pieces of work in little over three days. In no time at all you have gone from expecting to be in school, working towards your impending mock exams, to working remotely from home with what must feel like no real target to work towards. And I’m here to say, keep going, you’re smashing this, but you have to keep going. And here’s why:
You do have a target. A very real and extremely important target. You!
GCSE exams, as we know them, are cancelled. This is not how we, or most people, would have had you finish the first eleven years of your studies. GCSEs are a rite of passage; everyone does them and, good or bad, everyone has their memories. I hated them. I was good at English and decidedly average at everything else. I hated that I had to work harder in Maths to get what I knew would be a worse grade than English. There was though, one recurring message I got from my Dad (who to this day thinks I never listen to him): everything you do here you are doing for yourself.
Teachers, parents, governments, will all tell you that you still have us to impress. Teachers will ultimately assess your performance and award you your final GCSE grades this year and we won’t be shy in telling you that you need to impress us! In many ways, this is true. You have to keep going, keep proving yourself to us. Keep learning, keep doing, keep improving. Keep testing, keep examining, keep being resilient.
But, and this is a huge BUT, there is something more important at play here. You.
Your success still remains in your hands.
Last year I wrote to the previous Year 11 and I told them that they were worth more than the sum of their exams. We know you. We know way more about you, your skills, your attitudes, your humour, your commitment, than an exam will ever tell us. You are in the best hands and you have an incredible opportunity to prove yourself over the coming months; an opportunity we as a teaching body know you will take.
Many will have you believe that you’re going to be the lost generation. Teachers, blessed with much foresight, know this to be nonsense! Many of you will have your turn to sit public exams. In two years many of you will sit A Levels. In five years you’ll be sat in University exam halls all over the country. We know so many of you want that and your time will come.
The message is this: keep going. Not for us. Not for your parents. Definitely not for the Government. For you. Every bit of pride you show in your own self-worth and sense of achievement over the coming months will take you one step closer to success. Take that pride and make it worth something.
We are still here. We haven’t gone away. Use us. You deserve a full and broad education, regardless of where you are learning from. It is your right. Demand it. Take it. Ask questions of us and take advantage of all the experience and knowledge that you have at your disposal.
Most importantly, do this for you.
Mr Collins
Head of English
P.S. 11CG/En – your next Frog assignment will be to analyse the persuasive writing techniques used in this letter!
