I think I should just congratulate everyone getting their GCSE results today. As many other people are saying, it has been an incredibly tough couple of years, and the teenagers doing their exams this year had to work even harder than most. That, though, makes me wonder: how would I have coped? I did my GCSEs in a normal year, with none of the pandemic restraints students have had to endure. Of course, my GCSE years were far from normal: I went to a special school where, for various reasons, students weren’t pushed as hard as they might have been. It was more or less only due to my pushy parents that I managed to get the standard five C’s. Yet what if I had to endure a pandemic too? What was school like for students with disabilities these last two years? No doubt they would have had to push even harder; perhaps it proved too much for some and they decided not to bother. I certainly hope not.

Thus, if anyone reading this got their results today, you have my heartfelt congratulations. You have been through so much, and have already demonstrated that you can do anything you put your minds to.