Another Year of Incongruous A Level Result's Day Reporting

It has been A-levels result's week for academic year 2018-19 and there is always some degree of scrutiny and controversy on release of statististical information.

A pre-leaking of documents revealed that A-level math's candidates had to secure just over half of correct answers to score an A grade this year, and some indicators state that areas of Edexcel's A-level Maths study were not a close conducive match to some of the examination questions.

Worryingly too, is the news there are less students choosing to study English Language and English Literature. Also, there's been a call of late for a curriculum change in regard to the provision of arts education at L3 study and beyond.

This is the second year that reformed BTEC Nationals have been awarded so comparable results are scant for those who have chosen alternative paths of study.

However, the bulletin point to be derived from this year's results, is that the number of students who secured top A-level grades has dropped to its lowest point in 12 years. This is explosive news and a tragic reflection on the state of Education provision in our country. Therefore, I was jaw droppingly astonished at the 'papering over the cracks' report by Channel 4 News whose cameras were present in an East London school on result's day. This school had managed to buck the trend with more than a hundred pupils achieving straight As. 

Here is a link to the Channel 4 News report to which I refer:

https://www.channel4.com/news/proportion-of-students-getting-top-a-levels-drops-to-lowest-level-in-a-decade

Good journalistic reporting should have presented a countrywide averaging account of student experience and attainment. The press were given the heads up well in advance about this high achieving school as it was the centre of attention on Thursday's result's day reporting. Almost every one of the beautiful, vital young people who were interviewed in the report were probably cherry picked individuals when they first enrolled in Brampton Manor Academy's selective sixth form. 

Not meaning to undermine the hard work of individuals, but without doubt it was obvious that these youngsters had been extremely well supported, well equipped educationally, and well set up for taking up those Oxbridge placings on which they'd set their sights from early on. Dubbed as 'East London's Eton' over forty of its students this year securing places at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. I ask 'Is this academy a government project?' Acknowledging too, that this is in one sense a feel good, uplifting, story, but, sadly, a bitter pill to swallow for the majority of young people looking on, whose school life experiences never came (and future prospects will never come) any where close.