Dear Members of The Well Respected Public,

My name is Luca Benning and I am a 15 year old student, I am appealing to you all to sign my petition, as it is about a topic very current and close to mine and many thousands of students hearts.

The pandemic has been especially problematic for IGCSE/GCSE students who are sitting their exams next year in the summer of 2021. We have had to spend the summer term for 2020 at home, doing online learning, if we were fortunate enough to have lessons provided for us. Compiled with an uncertain first term in Autumn 2020 with large chunks of the school time spent self isolating, or in fact as with the case of my school being shut for the last three weeks of term.

This has caused more uncertainty stress, worry and even panic to students, especially students who are sitting important IGCSE/GCSE, IB and A-level exams this summer. This has greatly impacted our mental health, mental health is a very important subject close to not only mine but to many many peoples hearts. With rising anxiety, depression and even suicide rates over the lockdown period, I would like to think that exam boards both nationally and internationally have the children's best interests and emotional wellbeing deep in their hearts and therefore I would also like to think that they are doing everything they possibly can to reduce the stress and mitigate the impacts the pandemic is having on students mental health.

A very fitting way for exam boards to play their part in helping children, especially the ones sitting exams this year, would be to cancel the major exams for 2021. The reason being because of the quite imaginable stress, issues and further problems this pandemic and subsequent consequences have caused students sitting their exams this year, across the country.

The government of the UK has answered the call of the people and those who would be sitting their GCSE examinations this year, by cancelling the GCSE exams. Instead, replacing the exams with Centre Assessed Grades. However, unfortunately the same cannot be said yet about the IGCSE exams.

The IGCSE stands for the International General Certificate Standardised Education. A small amount of schools in the UK, including mine, do the IGCSE for many exams including languages, maths, English, science among others. The Cambridge IGCSE's are still planned to go on ahead this year, even following the announcement of the British prime minister Mr Boris Johnson, the exams have still not been cancelled.

I along with many other children sitting IGCSE exams this summer do not understand, when all the GCSE exams have been cancelled, due to the pandemic and sub sequential consequences, why children doing a different course are still being practically forced to carry on with their major examinations, even when the British officials have even called off their own nations major educational examinations.

Therefore, I would kindly request the CIE, and other relevant bodies responsible for the organisation of the IGCSE exams of 2021, to cancel the impending formal summer exams and replace them with centre assessed grades. This would greatly relieve the pressure and stress off of many students across the country, and even internationally as the IGCSE's are an international examination.

Please do not forget about us, and what we would have to face in terms of exams, many of us feeling overwhelmed and stressed by all the ongoing issues. Now that GCSE's are cancelled, I think it would be only fair for IGCSE's to be cancelled as well and replaced with centre assessed grades, providing a fair, just, and very comforting solution to a very imminent and huge issue which is currently being faced by thousands of students both nationwide and internationally.

Thank you very much for your time and May God bless you and your health. :)