A-level results leave Harrington School pupil unclear if she has place at Cambridge University

A pupil was left feeling ‘cheated’ after receiving her A-level results and despite the U-turn her future remains unclear.

Margaux Sampson, a pupil at Harrington School in Oakham, was feeling ‘quietly confident’ she would secure a university place at Oxford or Cambridge due to high grade predictions from teachers and succeeding in the interviews.

However, her initial results of A* A B - which were a combination of teachers’ predicted grades, mock results and a government algorithm - left her unable to secure a place.

Margaux, 18, said: “The teachers know what I’m capable of, they have been in the profession for such a long time and are qualified to know me as a student.

“I was denied the opinion of what teachers know I can get because of an algorithm and government scheme.

“I felt cheated.”

On Monday, it was announced that the government would make a U-turn and instead award pupils on teacher-predicted grades, if these were higher than the algorithm results.

Margaux’s grades were changed to A* A A.

She said: “I wanted to do the exams, even though it was going to be a difficult few months, and then have a great summer and be rewarded for what I achieved.”

Despite now having the necessary grades, Margaux is still facing a level of uncertainty because her place at Cambridge University to study languages is not yet confirmed.

“It’s still unclear and I don’t want to get too excited,” she said. “If I didn’t get a place I’d feel a bit betrayed.”

On results day Margaux, with help from her aunt Katie Cardew, was among those who set up a petition calling on the Government to award 2020’s A-level results based on teachers’ predictions rather than an algorithm.

“I’m grateful for everyone who signed the petition and who spoke out about it to make their voices heard,” she said.

Margaux believes the U-turn is “down to young people speaking, signing petitions, talking to people and making sure the government knows that what they did was not acceptable.”

She added: “I think the fact they have changed it now means they could have changed it in the first place.

“I think it’s unfair, what everyone has been put through.”