Following what can only be described as a chaotic A-level results day, I have written to the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson MP to challenge the unfair process the government used to decide on students' grades in the absence of summer exams.

Many young people across the borough have been affected by unfair downgrading by Ofqual which has damaged their university study opportunities and therefore their long term prospects.

Congratulations to every student who received their grade awards yesterday. This cohort have shown real resilience during this very difficult time and should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved.

However, too many young people are rightly worried that their futures are being derailed by the government's botched grading system. This day will understandably have brought anxiety and disappointment for some.

I have written to Gavin Williamson MP, Secretary of State for Education, calling for him to admit that the Government got the grading system wrong and to award pupils their Centre-Assessed Grades which their schools submitted.

This is the only way the government can rectify the mess they have created and give hardworking A-level students the future they deserve.

Visit the Richmond Council website to see further information on the appeals process or support available for those students disappointed with their results.

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The letter in full

Dear Gavin,

I have been contacted by a large number of young constituents today who are devastated by the low grades they have been awarded for their A levels. Many of them have received multiple marks two grades or more lower that the marks their schools submitted for them. I am outraged that their futures and their mental well-being have been treated with such carelessness, and the expertise of our dedicated and professional teachers disregarded.

I know that you have provided MPs with special channels to enquire about their constituents' specific cases. But that is not a sufficient response to the scale of this fiasco. Pupils with lower socio-economic means at their disposal have been disadvantaged disproportionately by this process. They are at the same time less likely to mount a successful appeal via their school, local authority or Member of Parliament, thus further widening the attainment gap.

It is unacceptable for the Government to knowingly tilt our already uneven playing field even further by allowing an elitist and defeatist algorithm to deprive disadvantaged children of the fruits of years of hard work. I call on you to follow Scotland's lead and award pupils their Centre-Assessed Grades instead of the Calculated Grades. Clearly, when I have pupils writing to me to say they were awarded a D in a subject they were predicted an A in by their school, your grade adjustments have gone badly awry.

It is time for the Government to follow Scotland's lead, put up its hand, admit that they have made a mistake, and make it right by reinstating the grades that schools submitted.

No one is better placed to estimate what a pupil would have achieved if it weren't for Covid-19 than their teachers. Mock exams are of zero use as there is no standardisation of approach to them. They are internal measures; as a basis of comparing one pupil to another pupil in different school they are absolutely meaningless.

Sitting exams in the autumn is equally problematic. Firstly, it's too late for university entrance this year, dashing the dreams of thousands of young people. Secondly, the pupils haven't been at school since March and will be unprepared (again, advantaging wealthier students who will have had more educational resources offered to them during lockdown.) And thirdly, having so many pupils defer entry until next year will wreak havoc on our precarious university system: what are the universities going to do about their funding shortfall this year when there are not enough candidates of sufficient quality to fill the places on their courses? And what happens in 2021 when next year's school leavers have to compete with so many of this year's school leavers for places?

So the Calculated Grades are a catastrophe, mock exams are hopelessly unreliable, and sitting exams this autumn creates as many problems as it solves. The only solution that remains to address the devastation suffered by so many young people, and level the playing field to at least some degree, is to award A-level candidates their Centre-Assessed Grades.

I call on you to place your trust in our teachers and schools and make this change as a matter of urgency.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Olney