Thread by @kimichaddahx

(THREAD) So, let's talk: mental health of Y13s, because this week, everybody remembers we exist!
1. We 'left' school in March. No/little contact with school after, no work, no purpose.
2. Exams cancelled. Nobody knew anything for 2 days.
#AlevelResults #alevels2020 #alevels

3. 5 months of waiting for results. Blamed by Y12s for 'taking up uni places'. 5 months of listless boredom, time with our thoughts.
4. SQA Results come out- everyone panics.
5. Students can take their mock grades. We were told. At 22.30. On the 11th.

The mock grades are unfair for multiple reasons (who does better in mocks?), but also the fact people cheat, people see the question papers, leaving lots of students feeling stupid.
6. Results Day? Haha you think you can see teachers? Noooo, not quite...

7. Do you know what your school's doing for Results Day? No? Well, if they deactivated your email, you don't have much of a chance. In person? Nope. Mostly emailed. Enjoy screaming at your screen tomorrow.
8. News news everywhere there's news. My anxiety is through the roof.

9. Headlines. "Pick and Mix your #AlevelResults." I feel stupid. Heck, I'm with my employer on this one- would I trust these results? Not with a bargepole.

10. University? Oh it's a distant dream. No social interaction, and the best thing is them hiding as much info as they can from you, because they know- if they share more, loads will defer. But hey, lets get blamed by Year 12s again before #alevels2020.

11. Ah- the Autumn exams you mention? The "resits" for exams we haven't sat? Sure. But after 6 months of no formal teaching and education, I'm expected to sit the same one? And forget going to uni the same year, we all know that's not happening.
#AlevelResults

12. Support? Non-existent. Want to reapply? Good luck finding out how. Tomorrow is simply a question of 'getting students in then out'. Forget the pictures. But expect headlines. Of course.

13. Wait.....don't forget we're "World Beating", don't forget to "Eat Out to Help Out". You know, they opened pubs- priorities right? But no, we couldn't do exams in a socially distanced manner. Nope. Oh, and your Nando's tomorrow? Consider that cancelled as well. #AlevelResults

14. Expect the news tomorrow. There'll be students that have lost out, feel deflated- but they won't show the pain that's been there for the *past 5 months*. Completely and utterly abandoned. @BBC @Telegraph @GuardianEdu does this float the boat? No? Didn't think so.

15. Mental health. HA. Does Y13's mental health even matter? Are we in Y13? The uncertainty, the stress- doesn't even cut it. And not one person has mentioned it.
16. School. Have you seen #Backtoschool ? It's done, it's over, we're just another cohort, no-one cares.

17. Anyone fancy covering this? Or do you just want to talk to us when we're crying about not getting in to uni, and let us have 4 sentences. SURE.
18. Wait...prom!! You know, "rites of passage" and all that jazz. Because I'm seriously more upset about prom than my exams. Right.

19. Well, with mental health comes raising awareness- but not for Y13, we won't have a security net when we go back to school because, well, we ain't going. Would anybody out of @jackbenedwards @beauty_spectrum @evebennettx
@laurenb_ymhm be ever so kind to RT this thread?Please?

20. Friends. Young people disobeying lockdown. Course. Well, thing is, here's a secret: some of us don't have very many friends we can see every day!! So, chuck extreme loneliness on to the pile as well.

21. Sympathy. Hey, we have that. But nobody's doing anything about it, nobody's talking to us, they're doing a wonderful job of talking *about us*, as "A-level" starts trending on Twitter, for, I've lost count how many times.
Are we getting an apology? In your dreams.

22. Clearing. Do you know how #Clearing2020 works? No? Thought not. Use this website ucas.com/clearing-launch to find a course and find a number. Ring them up, be prepared. You're welcome for this- I've had to answer 50 qs from my year alone.
#AlevelResults

23. Be ready for tomorrow. We'll be convinced of a "World Beating" system, a system where "young people will get the grades they deserve". HA. You're telling me I deserve the same grade as someone who cheated in a mock? Stop. It's insulting.

24. I can't get over the use of mocks. People cheat, people have sometimes seen the paper, I do everything I can to avoid seeing the paper. But we get the same grades. SURE. Please. Can. People/Parents. RT. This. Thread?
@tweetsbyames @amymayforrester @MrMcEnaney @EnserMark

25. Keep talking. I have tried for *months* to have my voice heard, feeling lost, alone and low. It just doesn't fit the narrative. So, anyone over at @BBCBreakfast @GMB @BBCNewsnight @SkyNews @RichardA @theipaper want to talk? Or does the mental health of Y13 no longer matter?

26. September. You know like, those articles that talk about how difficult it'll be for children to settle in after 6 months of school? Imagine settling in to....a degree!! And don't get me started on support. Anyone seen anything about mental health services at uni?

27. Ah, good old #jeremyvine. Saw what you said, how can grades be higher if students haven't sat the exam? Well, that's what everybody in the country will be asking too! Thanks for making us feeling worse than we already did! Imposter syndrome at its finest.

28. "3 A-levels for the price of one!", "Pick and Mix"- degrading or sarcastic, it's making me feel worse either way. You don't know what young people are going through @GavinWilliamson
Can people please RT this thread?
@lizziebarnettx @RachelB36245295 @LivRook

29. Ah, Twitter. Jeremy Clarkson. Expect the usual tweets tomorrow, of 'it not being the end of the world', "I did x and got y" and did you know not many care anymore? You're literally rubbing salt in a wound that is deep enough.
#AlevelResults

30. So. The New Normal. Move on, hey? We had our routine, our structure, our interaction ripped away from us and we know we're never getting it back. I would rather be doing my GCSEs at this point. We've been thrown in the deep end, you know it, no-one's saying it.

31. I'm so. lost. We had GCSEs in 2018, GCSEs that drained the life out of me due to the reformed spec, now #alevels2020 cancelled, #AlevelResults based on...mocks? You expect us to value an education system that doesn't value us? No. There'll be no apology either for A-levels.

32. I'm tired. Please, please please please, from a very stressed, tired Year 13, who's been left behind- please share and spread the message. It hasn't been spoken about nearly as much as it should have, and we are exhausted.
#AlevelResults #alevels2020 #alevels2021 #alevels

33. Forgot to mention- COURSEWORK! Yeah, your Geography NEA, your Computing project- it means nothing really. And you want to honestly tell us our work isn't wasted? Really? The coursework we had sleepless nights over, the coursework we stressed about. "World-Beating".

34. So, for Year 13, Class of 2020. Please share and RT this thread. Please. It would mean the world just to be.. heard.
@shadylady222 @lisafathersAFL @AlfiePayne5 @matthaig1 @bryony_gordon @Xris32 @team_english1 @btpclarkson
@teacherhead @LoveInner @Mktadvice4schls @HannahLucyM

35. And if anyone wants to talk, over at @branwenjeffreys @BBCBreakfast @lewis_goodall @SkyNews @GMB @Telegraph @nicolawoolcock , let me know- but I know it'll happen if I'm upset because I haven't got into uni, as that's what people want to hear. Please. Let's talk about Y13.

@BBCNWT @itvnews @GranadaReports @maitlis Please read this thread...

@RosieDBennett This thread encapsulates what I've always wanted to pitch properly haha, hope you like it if you have time to read it.

@AngelaRayner @Keir_Starmer @DavidLammy @Femi_Sorry (@steph_soh @jessaustin111- this is what I've been trying to pitch for months!)

So, does anyone want to listen? Anybody? Or again, are you waiting to see people crying because they're in clearing/been downgraded/generally stressed? We need to talk about Y13's mental health.
@BBCNewsnight @BBCNWT @carolecadwalla @mrjamesob @matthaig1 @GuardianEdu @itvnews

#c4news would you be up to discuss the impact on Y13's mental health, following the success of this thread? @Independent @theipaper @MetroUK (@john_stephens67 ...anyone listening to the void? Please RT and share if you can, it would mean a lot)

So, to #alevels2020- I hope it goes well. I will not stop shouting. I am, however, near tears after answering 20 qs from my year and upset that the media aren't listening. To all reading- please RT,read-if you know anybody in the media willing to listen- it would mean the world.

I have heard nothing. To everybody who read this far and RT'd, thank you thank you thank you- please keep doing so. One day I hope to be heard. Maybe I will hear something. I will update tomorrow.
Sending lots of care and luck to #alevels2020

I'm not going to uni. I'm heartbroken. Media, please listen. Just this once. PLEASE.

As this is ridiculously long, I've made a PT 2- please see my latest tweet. A-level Results Day was horrific. The best thing- not one person in the media has contacted me. Lovely. Good to know we matter!!! Or maybe it's the grades, not the people.

https://twitter.com/kimichaddahx/status/1293826512182018048

I rang my uni- I'm going to Durham for PPE. Maybe a future politician? ( Sorry it's not the Oxford degree though! ) The future is terrifying and uncertain, but I am glad that people here seem to believe me, and I'd like to think I deserve better than a B in English Literature..

All I can ask is that you keep sharing, keep RTing, keep tagging people- it means more than you'll ever know, comforting a crying Y13 who was dropped. I got a "take care of yourself" from school. A "take care". I'm so broken.

Right,let's give it one last shot- and I did have grades downgraded, so it fis the narrative too! Any journo- could you *please* get in touch/ let me write an article on this issue?Please?
@AimeePaige @whazell @RosieDBennett @RichardA @nicolawoolcock @C_Stevenson @matthewjenkin

@mrjamesob Could you possibly read this thread? Or talk? Get in touch? I've heard nothing from the media.