The days of frantic Thursdays for GCSE results are gone.
Swansea pupils like those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be getting their results two days earlier on Tuesday, August 24th.
GSCE results have been on a Thursday since they were introduced in 1986.
The decision to move to a Tuesday this year was taken by exam boards nationally to avoid a repeat of problems caused by last year’s late arrival of results in parts of Britain.
It is hoped it will also provide more time to make alternative arrangements where students fail to get the grades required to progress to A’ Level and other higher education studies.
If the results had been provided on a Thursday the following bank holiday meant pupils would have had little more than one working day to make such arrangements. Schools start back from September 1st subject to inset days.
Now all GCSE candidates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland should receive their results at the same time.
Electronic results for the more than 25,000 GCSE exams taken in Swansea will be supplied to centres at 00:01 hours on Monday 23 August 2010 so that they can issue them to candidates on Tuesday, 24 August, 2010.
Schools and colleges in Swansea informed pupils and staff of the change before they broke up after exams. The council is also reminding pupils on its website and on its Twitter and facebook sites too.
A-level results will continue with a Thursday issue day and this year will be given out on August 19th.
Cabinet member for Education Cllr Mike Day: “This is a national decision but I am sure that it will be beneficial in allowing our students some extra time before the start of term to decide their future path.”
