More Harrogate district schools and colleges have released data showing the a large number of A-level grades have been adjusted under the new standardisation process.

The figures paint a clearer picture of the scale of the issue.

Each congratulated students for their resilience during this unprecedented school term but expressed disappointment with the grading system.

St Aidan’s & St John Fisher Associated Sixth Form had more than 500 results adjusted after being sent to Ofqual, amounting to 38% of the total number of grades. The school said:

“Many students have asked about the possibility of appealing using their mock exam grades following the government’s last minute announcement this week. Clearly we have to wait for clarification of this process before we can offer guidance for specific individuals. We are truly proud of the students’ achievements and we are confident that they will move on to rewarding careers”

Harrogate Ladies’ College, it said 33% of its grades were reduced with a smaller number of grades going up.

Read more:

• It was a very different results day for students this year with students receiving their A-level grades online. 
• WATCH as Harrogate’s A-level students describe their emotions as they waited for their results. 

King James’s Sixth Form in Knaresborough saw 80% of its students have at least one grade changed. Head teacher Carl Sugden said:

“Whilst the vast majority of students have what they need for the next stage of their education there are some clear cases of the grades not reflecting the true potential of students and that has also negatively impacted on some individuals’ university entry. We are now waiting to see what right to appeal we will have for these students.”

Harrogate Grammar School reported yesterday that  35% of grades were changed after being sent to Ofqual.

Rossett School are planning to release this data at a later date and said they were “extremely proud” of each of its students. Helen Woodcock, headteacher, said:

“Whilst the school celebrated the achievements of all students, they were particularly disappointed in the disparities thrown up by the national moderation process. As many Rossett students have had their places confirmed today, others have been affected by national moderation, outside of the school’s control, and will be the subject of robust appeals. Along with other schools both locally and nationally, we have concerns about the methodology used to calculate the grades this year and the ‘triple-lock’ appeals process.”

The majority of those changed achieved a grade lower than the school anticipated.

The Stray Ferret put requests in to other schools in the district who are yet to publicise the data.

Henshaws has launched a new fundraising initiative to raise vital funds after experiencing shortfalls it attributes to coronavirus.

Its new Henshaws Hundreds Challenge will begin on September 21. Participants are asked to pick a hundred of any distance they like and get sponsored for it.

It costs £5 to sign up and all fees and sponsors will go to the charity to help support those living with disabilities to build skills and develop confidence. Participants can choose to complete their 100 alone or within a group and are asked to use a mobile app to track their distance.

Gemma Young, Henshaws Fundraising Manager for Yorkshire, said

“Inclusivity is at the heart of the Henshaws Hundreds challenge. It’s possible to cover your chosen distance in a wheelchair, using a walking frame, walking on your hands, or by running, walking swimming or cycling. Plus we hope we’ll also attract a few fun entries with people perhaps skateboarding, hula-hooping, or pogo-sticking their challenge!”

The money raised through the challenge will begin to cover the funds lost during missed fundraising opportunities over lockdown.

Read more:

• No plans to close Henshaws College as its arts and craft centre and supported living services have to close. 
• A mother describes how she kept in contact with her daughter in assisted living as they both had to self-isolate. 

The charity’s recent financial struggles forced it to close its arts and craft centre in Knaresborough and cut its supported living services.

Henshaws was criticised at the time by people whose family members were in the supported living facility who accused the charity of financial mismanagement. The families also said there was a disconnect between upper management and those using the service.

The charity responded to these claims and said:

“These are extremely difficult decisions being taken in exceptional circumstances and our team will continue to support people across Yorkshire in every way we can.”

Ashville College in Harrogate has reported an increase in this year’s grades with the number of A* to B grades going up to 64%.

A further 39% of grades were A* and A, including students studying art and music who all achieved those grades.

Further subjects seeing high grades were English literature, French and Latin. The school has congratulated all of its pupils on their dedication to their studies and work during the lockdown period.

Acting head of the school Elspeth Fisher said:

“We want to pay tribute to our most senior pupils who have lost out on many activities and privileges throughout their final year at school but have continued to actively engage with staff through online lessons until May half-term. Each individual deserves to be proud of their achievements.”

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Read more:

• We have created a list of the district’s colleges and their results revealed today. 
• Harrogate Grammar School has reported 35% of its student’s grades were changed following the government’s standardisation process. 

Fourteen students from the college received A* to A grades across the board.

Among the high achievers were Mia Croft and Simon Floyd, who both gained A*s in all three of their A levels. Mia will now study geography at Durham, while Simon will go to Bath to study economics.

Harrogate Grammar School A-level students received their grades this morning, with 35% of grades being changed.

It is estimated that 384 grades have been changed at the Harrogate Grammar School, with the majority of those changed achieving a grade lower than the school anticipated.

Due to coronavirus, the 2020 cohort of students have had their exam marks generated by the school, taking into account factors such as teachers’ expectations and mock exam results. This grade was then passed on to government body Ofqual for standardisation.

Neil Renton, headteacher at Harrogate Grammar School, said:

“Our immediate priority today is to support our students to secure suitable progression routes. Our focus over the forthcoming days will be to further analyse and investigate the variation between grades and pursue subsequent appeals. We will pursue change through the appeals process as it is our view that the overall final grading of the cohort does not fully reflect what a typical cohort at our school would achieve.”

Read more:

• This list of the district school’s results will be updated throughout the day.
• Harrogate Ladies’ College students exceed previous year’s results today. 

The impact of this year’s grading system reflects a national picture of grade changes for many students.

The Harrogate Grammar School students received their results via an email due to social distancing restricting their ability to go onto school grounds.

Today was A-level results day for hundreds of young people in the district, most of whom have received their results online this morning.

Amid the pandemic, the students’ exams were cancelled and their grades have been based on teacher expectations, mock exam grades and previous cohorts’ results. All were then standardised by government body Ofqual.

Unlike previous years, students weren’t able to attend their college or sixth form today and instead found out their grades online.

Read more:

• Harrogate A level students anxiously await results day
• Parents risk losing child’s place at school over coronavirus fears, says county council

Apprehension regarding the results was heightened after a U-turn in Scottish exam results. All results that were downgraded through the new system were replaced by the original estimates.

Here you can find out how each centre has performed (more links will be added as results are released):

• Ashville College
• Harrogate Grammar School
• Harrogate Ladies’ College
• Ripon Grammar School 

Students at Harrogate Ladies College have achieved over 50% more A* to A’s in their A-level results than previous year groups.

Further success was achieved with 85% of the girls achieving A* to C grades across all subjects.

Unlike other schools in the district, the pupils were invited to a socially distant celebration on the lawn after reading their results online this morning.

Sylvia Brett, principal of Harrogate Ladies’ College, said:

“We are enormously proud of the achievements of all our girls who have worked incredibly hard in these exceptional and challenging circumstances. As an all-girls school we make it our business to encourage the girls to be bold and brave in their subject choices away from fear of judgement or embarrassment.

“I’m delighted to see that so many of them have achieved so highly across such a breadth of subjects. The teaching staff at Harrogate Ladies’ College and I are extremely proud of them all.”

As with all schools, the college students were unable to take their exams this year due to coronavirus. The grades have been calculated using a range of factors and then standardised by government body Ofqual.

Read more:

• Colleges across the district release their results online.
• Ripon Grammar School students are jumping for joy after their A-level achievements.

A group hoping to form the Knaresborough Business Improvement District (BID) is developing a business plan before moving into the campaign phase next year.

The group has its task force in place and now wants to engage more local businesses.

It has employed consultants to speak to businesses within the town in order to gain support for a ballot in March.

BID organisations work with funds collected from businesses – this is an additional levy to business rates. Knaresborough’s BID will use a band structure based on the rateable value of each business to determine how much they contribute.

Treasurer of Knaresborough Chamber of Trade and BID representative, Bill Taylor, said:

“We’ve now got around two thirds of the money we need for the project. We currently have around 30 businesses who are supportive and we need approximately 100 businesses to support us to gain a majority.

“The business plan is based on needs of business but we want them to add to it – we want to give them the platform to express their opinions. Undersold and unknown were two of the words highlighted in a survey of Knaresborough businesses last year and we want to change that. We want to improve the public view of Knaresborough to increase visitors and then encourage business.”

Common themes adopted by BIDs include improving marketing, further support for businesses, support for visitors to boost trade and accessibility and sustainability within the town. All of these are being discussed by Knaresborough BID.

Read More:

• Council leader steps down from Harrogate BID. 
• Criticism over the influence of Harrogate council in the BID is increased as four board members resign. 

Harrogate Borough Council has offered its support to the BID, and will be a large contributor. The BID also hopes to work closely with the Knaresborough Chamber of Trade.

Harrogate BID has faced criticism this year – four board members including the chair stepped down stating there was undue influence by the council. More recently the council leader Richard Cooper also stood down.

BIDs across the country can encounter issues when trying to find a common ground for the objectives within its business plan. Bill Taylor says Knaresborough’s size is an advantage:

“We have to be careful of getting fractured and disjointed which due to our small size we’re hoping to avoid.”

The members of Knot Another Choir in Knaresborough have been shortlisted for the local talent show after continuing to rehearse during the pandemic via video.

Prior to coronavirus the choir had plans to put on a charity concert for Yorkshire Cancer Research. Instead it has entered ‘Knaresborough’s Got Talent’ with a rendition of the Beatles song ‘With a little from my friends’.

Rehearsals have remained similar to those face to face, with choir leader Craig Lees committed to maintaining a high level of performance.

Choir leader, Craig Lees, said:

“From very early on in the pandemic it was clear to me that we had to find a way to stay connected, to foster positivity and try our best to feel normal in such an abnormal time.

Our online rehearsals have provided us a place to sing, laugh and get to know each other on a deeper level than we ever could during our usual manic rehearsal schedule. We have all battled through this together, and will continue to do so until such a time that we can all sing together in the same room.”

The talent videos will be released on feva festival’s Facebook page from Friday with the public deciding the winner.

The choir is excited to return to face to face rehearsals but is unable to confirm when this can be.

The 89 members aged from 24 to 93 began bulletins which included member profiles to encourage everyone to connect during lockdown.

Committee member, Julie Bradbury-Sharp, said:

“When we were told we had to lockdown it was difficult, but we started doing zoom sessions to keep it going. Its not the same as in our rehearsal room and giving someone a hug but we made it work.

“I think we’re a long way off being able to be in the same room again. There’s a lot of people in our choir who get a lot out of our rehearsals, and we want them to know we are still going!”

Read more:

• Theatres across the district have supported the ‘Red Alert’ campaign to highlight the struggling live entertainment industry. 
• Harrogate theatre announces it will remain closed until 2021. 

The other acts shortlisted for Knaresborough’s Got Talent are:

• Julie Wrightson singing ‘Andante Andante’
• Kellie Reed singing ‘Heart of Stone’
• Danielle Wilson accompanied by her cousin Emma Chatto on piano

Theatres across the district are looking at ways they can support a campaign to highlight the struggling live entertainment industry.

The #WeMakeEvents “Red Alert” follows months of closure for venues and a lack of work for freelance workers. Across the Harrogate district local theatres support the message but none have the facilities to light up red this evening.

Harrogate Theatre is looking into projecting red lights at a later date.

David Bown, chief executive of Harrogate Theatre, said:

“Of course we want to support the campaign it’s keeping the plight of theatres in people’s consciousness -our technicians are looking into it. The movement is to remind people of what is happening and the impact on the industry.

It’s the health and safety that we have to be careful with, leaving lights on when no-one is in the building. I can’t say for definite they are going to go ahead but it is something we are looking into.”

Ensuring social distancing in auditoriums is making reopening too difficult for theatres in the district.

Read more:

• Knaresborough theatre says social distancing measures make reopening too difficult. 
• Pateley Bridge Playhouse is optimistic for its future after coronavirus having huge ramifications on its finances. 

John Pearce, vice-chairman Frazer Theatre, said:

“It’s something we are very much aware of, but unfortunately the Frazer doesn’t actually have any way to light the exterior up red, so we’re not able to join in. We completely support the campaign though, and do think it’s a really effective way to highlight just how many wonderful spaces could be lost without support.

We absolutely hope it makes people think about what could be gone forever if funding isn’t received urgently.”

Both theatres have suspended their reopening until 2021 following doubts over making their return financially viable.

Humpit, the hummus and pitta chain, is opening a pop-up in one of Harrogate’s independent restaurants this week.

Farmhouse restaurant, on Station Parade, will host Humpit’s newest pop-up takeaway bar. From Thursday, August 13, the stall will open Thursday to Saturday from 11.30am to 3pm to catch the lunchtime trade.

The two business owners struck up the partnership after realising over lockdown they were neighbours. The closing of restaurants for three months was difficult for both and this pop-up has come as an opportunity to rebuild their customer bases.

Jonathan Phillips, co-owner of Humpit, said:

“Businesses need to help each other in the current economy, and we’d always wanted to come to Harrogate. We’re two companies working together collaboratively to support each other which is super important right now. Currently we just have to keep going – if there is another lockdown, we just have to work through it.

“Its a real no-brainer for us. I was worried about us at some point, and at the beginning of lockdown it was nerve-wracking, but now we’re ready to move forward and projects like this are exciting.”

Humpit have six outlets on university campuses across the country, which have all had to remain closed.

Both food outlets cater for all, but focus on vegan dishes. Humpit is currently the largest vegan chain in the UK.

Read more:

• Despite major roadworks outside its shop, a chippy in Harrogate is continuing to thrive. 
• Eat out to help out scheme is being thoroughly enjoyed it Harrogate. 

Jordan Aspinall, owner of Farmhouse, hopes this venture alongside the popular Eat Out to Help Out scheme will cover the losses lockdown caused. He said:

“It just makes perfect sense. We have always been open to pop-ups like this and Jonathan just came along and it happened to work. I can’t see why it would be a problem unless my sales drastically decline but I’m happy for it to keep going for as long as it can.

“We were on the edge over lockdown, so I have absolutely nothing to lose having Humpit here – I actually think it could bring trade to us.”