I’m pleased the Government has u-turned on A-Level and GCSE grades, but this has only come after creating huge uncertainty for so many young people and after concerted pressure from campaigners, councils, schools, colleges and students themselves. 

Cllr Bramble and I wrote to the Secretary of State for Education, urging him to make this decision, making it clear that this disastrous approach risked jeopardising future opportunities for hundreds of Hackney students and in many cases disproportionately affected disadvantaged students and punished them for working hard

The Government should always have trusted the teachers who know their pupils best, and I hope this means that more young people across Hackney can now follow their dreams and plans that were cruelly snatched away last week, and that GCSE students can look forward to collecting their results on Thursday.

If any young person is concerned or confused about their results, I’d urge them to speak to their school or college for advice. If they are still uncertain about what to do next then the Council has provided additional support and information about next steps - visit hackneyworks.hackney.gov.uk

Young people, their families and teachers will be relieved to hear that the Government has finally made this u-turn, after a long weekend of uncertainty, when many of them will have been absolutely distraught after their results were unfairly downgraded.

It's clear that the algorithm being used discriminated against some of our young people through no fault of their own - this is an outrage, and something the Government needs to explain.

I’m pleased that our GCSE students won’t need to go through the same situation, and I’m looking forward to celebrating some excellent results with our schools and pupils later this week.