In case you were not up in time to hear me on BBC Radio Essex this morning, this is what I said.
1. If your results are disappointing or mean that you are unable to do what you want to do TAKE A VERY DEEP BREATH. Pause before you react.
2. If your results are disappointing do not do anything in a hurry for that will almost certainly make things worse.
3. Do your very best to ignore the emotional ups and downs of other people’s reactions to results. This happens every year and people survive. I failed one 0-level (Old GCSE ) – English literature – at sixteen but went on to be an examiner for the subject at A-level and the International Baccalaureate.
4. Most of us who can ride bikes grazed our knees as we learnt to do so. Failure or disappointment is something from which we must learn, whether we are going to re-sit an examination to get higher grades or consider different careers or courses.
5. Ignore the sound of adults worrying about pass-rates and examinations becoming easier. Just don’t give up on yourselves.