GCSE results day can be a nerve-wracking time. It is the culmination of years of hard work: a judgement day when futures are decided.

I expect it is a pretty tense time for the pupils as well.

Like many teachers, I will be up bright and early, desperately trying to recall my exam board password and endlessly hitting refresh as I wait for the results to go live. But in amongst the excitement, tears and juggling of numbers, there are a few things that I will try to keep in mind.

1. Ignore the results day headlines

The press love results day. I assume they permanently keep “Results up as exams get easier” set in type, ready to go. Failing that, we will have “Exam grade boundary chaos”.

It can be hard to have your work as a teacher, or pupil, dismissed and written off in this way, and frustrating to see positive stories of achievement spun to meet political points. So, breathe deep and ignore the headlines.

2. Avoid reading press releases

It isn’t only the press who like to reach some odd conclusions based on exam results. Schools love to rush out press releases announcing that, by some measure at least, the “school has had its best ever results”. If your 4+ doesn’t show this, maybe your 5+ will. No? Just English and maths, then. How about total number of top grades?

If you are feeling a little despondent about your class results, just remember that any other school’s results you see will have been very carefully put through a filter.

3. It’s all new

This year’s results day is likely to be stranger than most, because it will be the first year students have sat reformed exams in several subjects. When we first see the results of our pupils, it is going to be hard to know if these results are good or not. Every school has found its own way of generating targets for the new specifications - each one is pretty meaningless. We won’t know until the dust settles how pupils have done against expectations. For now, celebrate the individual successes, but avoid drawing any conclusions about how your class as a whole has done.

4. The data doesn’t tell the story

There is a temptation, and in some schools an expectation, that teachers and heads of department rush to work on data analysis and to produce action plans on what they will do differently as a result. The problem is that the data tells us very little, if anything at all, about what works and what doesn’t.

A good set of results might lead you to conclude that a strategy you put in place must have been successful and should be rolled out more widely, but what if they would have done even better without it? A poor set of results might have you looking to change the way you teach, but what if their results would have been even worse if you had taught differently? The results give no indication of what went right or wrong. At best they fit into a pattern of results showing whether you might be on the right track.

5. These are not your GCSE results

Finally, it is worth remembering that, of course, these are not your results. Teachers play a significant role in helping pupils to reach their potential but it is a complex picture. People underachieve for all kinds of reasons that will have been outside your control. Likewise, there is a limit to how much credit you can claim for excellent results.

We need to start changing the narrative in education about the point of GCSEs. Above all, remember that they are not an accountability measure for teachers and school leaders, but a qualification for pupils.

Mark Enser is head of geography at Heathfield Community College. His first book, Making Every Geography Lesson Count, is out soon. He tweets @EnserMark