As many people have said, things will never go back to how they were and this is true of education. The pandemic has ridden roughshod over terms, exams and attendance with most pupils and students experiencing a lot of home-schooling.

I do wonder if the desire to recreate what was an imperfect system is not doomed to failure too. Perhaps now is a perfect time to devise new models - maybe more than one - that can be used in the future.

It will be almost impossible for any classes if they will exist online to sit meaningful exams. The only realistic assessment model will have to be on one based on teacher assessment.

To ensure this works for future years I’d suggest that the Government having abandon exams for this year spends time devising a model of learning that embraces school, home, internet, sports clubs, charity work and other clubs/institutions so pupils can demonstrate their skills and qualities. The next stage in their education, be it school, university or employment would have to accept this new, pluralistic ‘norm’ and select pupils/students based on interview rather than flawed exams.

There is already a massive set of divides in this country, be it geographically or based on income, so this would be an opportunity for a levelling up exercise to be started and so a better society could be created - if the Government has the courage and really wanted to change.

Bob Pixton