Students deserve recognition

They have had to deal with a global pandemic causing unprecedented disruption to their education, including two lockdowns preventing in-person lessons for most.

Not only that but many will have experienced the effects of Covid on their social life, friendships, family dynamics and mental health during what is already a notoriously difficult stage of adolescent development.

This year’s cohort are also the first to have sat formal exams since 2019, with grades for the past two years having been based on teachers’ assessments, and they are expected to face tough competition for university places, with institutions believed to have been more conservative in their offers this year.

Let’s not forget that their school days are also likely to have been impacted by the years of educational uncertainty seen since the 11-plus was scrapped back in 2016, with a succession of varying school models having since been proposed, accepted and ultimately rejected before the current plan was finally agreed upon.

As Guernsey’s teenagers transition into adulthood, having been shaped, but hopefully not scarred, by these experiences, we can but hope that all the turbulence of recent years is now behind us.