For any GCSE cohort, August is a time of anxiety and stress, and it feels as though this year has been worse than any before. 

Following months of incredible challenge, of online schooling and remote learning, of schools closing their doors and cancelling exams, we had to question how we would assess Year 11s, and ensure they receive fair grades.

We now have clarity: our Year 11s are going to receive results that reflect the effort they have put in during their time at school, as assigned by those teachers who know them best.

This is great news for Year 11s, but we have seen a reaction across the education sector worrying that it gives them an unfair advantage.

Quick read: 3 reasons the exams U-turn has a sting in the tail

Teacher reaction: ‘Grade U to the government for a monumental cock-up’

Analysis: ‘Teacher grades aren’t a panacea - far from it’

GCSE results: Avoid building up a bigger crisis

Of course, there is no perfect solution, but we need to ensure we are not building up a bigger crisis for the coming years. 

The argument goes that teacher-assessed grades could well be unfairly inflated, giving this cohort an unearned edge over following years, and in particular, over our current Year 10s. 

These Year 10 students, who will be spending their GCSE year at schools that look vastly different from what they are used to, will (presumably) not rely on teacher-assessed grades, but will instead sit exams in the traditional way.

So, is it inevitable that they will pay the price, and that they will be on the receiving end of their predecessors’ perceived good fortune?

Targeted support

At my school, we have been hard at work on a comprehensive programme to ensure that our Year 10s still have every opportunity to excel.

We work with a number of different organisations in order to make this happen, including online tutoring services for students who need that bit of extra support. We are expecting this level of tutoring support to be even higher in the coming months, with the arrival of the national tutoring programme. 

Looking ahead, from September, every new Year 11 will also be assigned a member of staff to act as a mentor. This goes beyond merely academic support, making sure students always know who they can come to with any problem they face.

Of course, academic success is only part of the challenge. Destinations should always be the most important metric to measure school success. 

The key to successful careers education is ensuring young people have a full understanding of the options available to them. Whether it’s organising visits to Oxford and Cambridge or setting up partnerships with local further education colleges, students have to be told of every possible future, so that they can choose what’s best for them.

A perfect storm of seemingly insurmountable challenges

Looking at the obstacles waiting for this cohort of Year 10s - soon to be Year 11s - combined with the fact that they will be competing with their immediate predecessors’ strong results, we could well be facing a perfect storm of seemingly insurmountable challenges.

And, when everyone is bone-weary exhausted - let’s face it: no one has really had a proper break this summer - there is a real risk of these students being truly left behind. They could well become the forgotten year of young people, with no prospects and dark futures.

We are all going to have to dig deep to find ways to confront and overcome this.

The coming year will bring incredible challenges. As teachers, we are still getting used to what our schools will look like in September, with social distancing and remote learning central to our offer. But we can’t overlook trying to organise remote work-experience placements, or virtual university tours. 

Our Year 10s - or our new Year 11s - cannot be expected to deal with this by themselves. So, we need to make sure we supercharge the range of support we put in place for them.

We don’t know what is coming next, and the past few months have shown us that the future is impossible to predict. We have to work together, united as educators, to make sure these students go on to live rich, fulfilling lives.

Instead of being distracted by debates over A-level and GCSE results, we should concentrate on the students returning in September. They will need their teachers to support and guide them now, more than ever.

Andy Taylor is head of key stage 4 at Arena Academy in Birmingham, part of the CORE Education Trust