24^th August 2017 will be a memorable day for thousands of students across the UK as they receive their GCSE results. Whilst there’ll be students that are celebrating success there are also always disappointed pupils who didn’t get the grades they expected. Those who are disappointed will no doubt be turning to their teachers for support and guidance. Here are top five tips on how you can help your students should their results not be something to celebrate.    

1. Be a calming presence

Emotions will be running high along with feelings of stress and panic. The first thing you can do is offer reassurance and a calming presence on the day. Have some stories on hand of students who didn’t perform as well as they had hoped but went onto being successful. This will help them feel like it’s not the end of the world, as many will probably feeling like it is.   

2. Re-marks and resits

Grades can move up or down however most of the time they don’t therefore it’s important to set expectations when discussing the option of re-marking with students. Maths, English, and English Literature can be retaken in November, whilst everything else the following summer; therefore resits may be more realistic for some.  If there is a high chance of a student improving the second time around, and their choice of career path depends on it then resisting exams is an option worth pursuing. Guidance from a trusted and knowledgeable teacher is vital here. 

3. Talk to students away from parents

Each year more and more parents are accompanying their children and standing with them as they open that all important envelope. This can be quite daunting and nerve racking especially if both parents are looking over their shoulder. It’s a lot better for students to open results, talk to their friends, talk to their teachers and then face parents when they feel prepared. Try to steer students away from their parents and ensure the conversation you have is on point. 

4. Be prepared

As a teacher you will need to respond to an array of questions and deal with situations you may not have faced before. It’s worthwhile speaking to senior members to get their experiences and advice, especially if this was your first year of teaching as an NQT. Think back to your own personal life experiences and how you felt during GCSE results day. 

5. There are other options

A-Levels are not the only option. There are several other post-16 paths, of which some end up at the same destination. Good results in vocational qualifications can open the door to many university courses and careers. There is also the option of apprenticeships which work really well for some young people. 

One final point to remember is to tell your students that their GCSE results do not define them. It’s what they do next that will begin to shape their future.

For generation upon generation, teachers and pupils have been locked in a head to head battle in the arena that is the world of homework. The back and forth sees teachers give pupils work that they know will do them the world of good in their learning, while the other laments the loss of their free time given up to continue their education. 

Whether it was to head out into the street with friends to play football, spend an evening chatting with friends and foes on MSN Messenger or to discuss the ins and outs of the lives of various members of One Direction, pupils have long had distractions that get in the way of doing their homework. 

And for years, there has been one rather amusing constant; the excuses that can follow when pupils are faced with a less than pleased teacher, homeworkless and without a plan. Of course, there's the classics such as the dog having eaten their homework, but the good people of Reddit have asked people what the very best excuses they've ever heard were, with hilarious results. 

We take a look at a few of the best. 

At one with nature

School pupils are rarely as lucky as Reddit user maleficuslues' friend, who once managed to convince their mother to be a co-conspirator in their bid to get away with not having done their homework. 

The excuse? The parent in question had excused the pupil from completing their homework because they felt it was more beneficial for them to experience the natural beauty of a particularly breathtaking sunset. 

Million dollar question

One Reddit user spoke of a creative student in their class at high school who capitalised on a popular TV show's format to get off with not doing their assignment. 

When asked where their homework was, the student informed the teacher that their uncle had been a contestant on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire the previous evening, and they had been asked to sit by the phone all night in case the call came from Chris Tarrant and the Phone a Friend lifeline. 

Animal troubles

Ok, so we all know the problems dogs can cause with their unquenchable appetite for homework, but one pupil found trouble with another animal when they tried to reach their assignment one morning. 

One Redditor tells of a student in their class who told the teacher the unfortunate tale of a hapless turkey, which got confused and ran headlong into their garage door, rendering it unusable and leaving the family unable to prise the door open. How unfortunate that their completed homework was trapped in the car inside. 

The bizarrely true

One teacher struggled to believe a pupil had the confidence to even suggest that while swinging his school bag, the strap broke and sent the bag flying onto the back of a passing lorry. 

However, they were shocked a few hours later, when recounting the story to colleagues, when another teacher, laughing, corroborated the unfortunate student's story. 

The brash tactic

And then there's the story of the fantastically brash student who took the excuse for not handing in their work to an all new level. 

Rather than claiming their work had been stolen, lost, eaten or otherwise damaged, one pupil claims to have told their teacher that they asked their mother to check their work...only for their mum to be so impressed that she promptly took the paper to have it framed. 

If there's one time of year that injects fear into the minds of teachers and pupils alike, it's the exam period. In a time where the whole year's work comes together and pupils have the chance to show off their knowledge and set themselves up well for the future, it's a worrying time for both themselves and the teachers who have imparted knowledge to them. 

But if one thing can really help to ease the stress, it's a good old fashioned laugh, and some pupils even seem to carry this philosophy into the exam hall with them. Over the last few years, there's been a trend for teachers to share some of their favourite ever exam answers, and some of them show that school pupils have some of the sharpest wit and humour around. 

Here, we take a look at just a few of our very favourite exam answers we've ever seen on the web. 

Question: In Spanish, ask your sister to do the following…
Answer: I don't even have a sister.

As simple as it gets to start us off. We've all been in a modern languages class where we had to explain various simple tasks to a theoretical brother/sister/mother/father/penpal, but this stubborn pupil was having none of their teacher's apparent lack of attention to detail!

Question: Name six animals which are native to the Arctic.
Answer: Two polar bears, four seals. 

To be fair to this pupil, the examiner didn't actually say they wanted them to name different animals. With the skills to look for loopholes as small as this, perhaps this intrepid pupil's future may lie in law rather than in the biology exam they were sitting when they came up with this excellent answer. 

Question: What are your three main aims for the future?
Answer: 1. Get a girlfriend; 2. Kiss her; 3. Rule the world. 

It all started so well for this young megalomaniac, too. Content with finding the love of their life and experiencing their first kiss in the early days, it soon escalated for someone who may have watched a few too many episodes of Dexter's Laboratory. Scary stuff!

Question: A company wants to open its new fashion factory near Birmingham. Is Birmingham a good place for this? Explain why.
Answer: No. The people in Birmingham are not very fashionable. 

Not great news for the people of England's second city, but this child is not impressed by their colour palettes and choices of outfit. We're pretty sure the teacher did not expect this budding Versace to have quite a cutting analysis when discussing the geographical suitability of a factory, but it certainly made us laugh. 

Question: In no more than 50 words, explain the concept of risk.
Answer: This.

Sometimes there's the funny and witty, and other times the deep and clever answer. Rarely do the two ever meet. However, here we come across an answer that manages to combine both. With one simple word, the witty pupil manages to answer the question succinctly, but also with the sort of swagger and wit that almost deserves a round of applause. We would give them an A+.