London students demonstrate outside Downing Street after A-level results downgraded
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Students who had their A-level results downgraded branded the process “dehumanising” as they took to the streets to protest in Westminster.
Around 100 demonstrators, including pupils who received their results on Thursday, expressed anger and disappointment outside Downing Street as they called for the Education Secretary to be sacked.
Marching down Whitehall towards the Department for Education on Friday afternoon, protesters chanted “sack Gavin Williamson” and “teachers not Tories” whilst holding placards.
One student, from Streatham in south-west London, was predicted to achieve one A* and three As in sciences and maths and hoped to study medicine at Imperial College London.
But the 19-year-old, who preferred not to give his name, was “shocked” to have received an A, two Bs and a C.
Another student also missed out on a place to study at Imperial College London, this time on a bioengineering course.
The 19-year-old, from Barking in east London, said she will appeal her grades but fears the university will not hold her place whilst the process is under way.
Also at the protest on Friday was Caitlin Farrell, from West Croydon, who received two A*s and an A and is due to go on to study English at Cambridge University.
Calling the situation “inconsistent and unfair”, she said it was especially difficult for students from a deprived area.
Harry Mayes, from Stoke Newington in north London, missed out on a place at both his firm and insurance university places after his receiving A, B and C in his A-levels.
The 18-year-old, who hoped to study neuroscience at the University of Bristol and had grades of A*, A and B submitted by his teachers called the system a “complete injustice”.