Category: Blog

Emma White

“The Kids are alright” …It’s us who needs to get a grip.

A personal perspective by our Senior Moderator Are we fostering a need for neediness? When schools sprayed the desks, re-opened their doors after Covid and the students returned, there was rightly some concern about how they might have been affected by the pandemic and their mixed feelings about re-joining the classroom culture. In the intervening

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Emma White

Are you a home-educator considering Oxbridge or Medical School?

At Mark My Papers (MMP) we are regularly approached by home-educators who are aiming for a place at Oxford or Cambridge or hoping to study Medicine at a UK university.  For those who have adopted a self-educating approach, attempting to reach these goals comes with an extra layer of challenge because the entire process of

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Emma White

Congratulations Ernie!

On behalf of the team at MMP, sincere congratulations to Ernie Visick for his superb A’ Level results. Educated at home since Year 5, Ernie has worked with immense determination throughout the Pandemic, putting his time to great use to ensure he was ‘match-fit’ for his public exams this summer. An offer from Pembroke College,

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Emma White

A-level results: Is it time to get real with grade inflation?

Emma White explores why she believes it is so important for A-level and GCSE grades to be ‘reset’ after Covid More than 20 years ago whilst working for a large London insurance company, a CV landed on my desk for a marketing product manager role. Nothing unusual, we received them all the time, and mostly

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Emma White

The early bird……gets the Grade!

Facing up to exams early makes all the difference It’s a busy time for us right now at Mark My Papers. With CAIE exams underway and the main GCSEs and A levels starting next week, we have been busy supporting home educators, direct students and schools in the run up to their exams. Every year

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Emma White

Home-educated student offered Cambridge University place at just 16

Ernie Visick’s parents are the Founder and the Commercial Director of Mark My Papers and are immensely proud that Ernie (pictured right) has been offered a place at Cambridge University where he will join his brother Ossie (pictured left) following a complete reliance on the superb team of Examiners at MMP for assessment and mock

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Emma White

Let’s not put exams on the ‘too hard’ pile this year

A hybrid system where students are awarded a predicted grade and a real-life grade could be a solution to exams this year, writes Emma White It is less than five months until GCSEs and A-levels take place. An Easter holiday and two half terms stuffed into the mix means time will soon be running out

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Emma White

Predicted grades in 2022. Let’s hope not.

Time to come up with a different plan perhaps? With July now upon us we are almost (but not quite) at the end of the Centre or Teacher Assessed Grade process. I say not quite because we are still working with schools in the Far East who had a special extended deadline due to their political situation and

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Emma White

‘Exam grades are being decided by pub quiz-style testing’

Using Centre Assessed Grades for GCSE and A-level will fail the most disadvantaged, writes Emma White in her latest article to be published in Independent School Management Plus. There is something almost comedic about this year’s Centre Assessed Grades. Comedic perhaps, if it were not for that fact that future lives, hopes and dreams of a

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Emma White

‘We blame Covid but it’s our fault children have switched off’

Emma White considers why schools often fail to nurture pupils’ love of learning Published in Independent School Management Plus Earlier this year, we received the news we had all been waiting for. My 18-year-old son had been offered a conditional place at Christ’s College, Cambridge to study history and modern languages. An immensely proud moment

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Emma White

What do universities REALLY want from their new undergraduates …?

Dr. Helen Wright MA(OXON), EDD, PGCE, Chair of the Mark My Papers Board of Advisors writes a fascinating piece considering if vicarious domination of a child’s aspiration leads to disappointment for school, parent and student. I could write at length – we all could – about any number of sub-groups of children and young people

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Emma White

The many faces of success

By Yvonne Mason. Yvonne Mason is an historian and freelance English and History teacher and tutor. Having gained a B.A in English Language and Literature, she later gained an M.A in Medieval Studies from Royal Holloway, University of London. In 2001, she established her own practice as a tutor of English and History which has

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Emma White

Why have we all forgotten about reading?

Amid outcry over Covid-19, the digital divide and cancelled exams, Emma White advocates a tried and tested approach to remote learning; an article published recently in ‘Independent School Management Plus‘ The writing was on the wall from the beginning. Remote learning meant no learning. Not for everyone, of course, but for enough children for it

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Emma White

To read or not to read…is anyone asking the question?

By Emma White……… When I came to home education six years ago I never considered that zero internet and one shared family laptop between four may be a barrier to success. And looking back – it made no difference.  Our results – two boys, 18 GCSES, 15 Grade A*, three Grade A, one AS at

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Emma White

Explaining the ‘angst, doubt and heartache’ of homeschooling

Schools faced with parents threatening to home educate need to know all the arguments against it, writes successful home educator Emma White Since schools returned this autumn, the media has been abuzz with talk of Covid-19 and how schools will create a safe normal for the new academic year. The angst that children and teachers

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It is our policy to respond to your enquiry within 48 hours or sooner. Please check your spam filter if you cannot see our response. Please let us know if you are based outside the U.K. so that we can ensure we offer appropriate services.

If you do not hear from us within 48 hours, please check your spam filter.