Covid Generation to Take GCSEs

 Shaun Fenton, Head of Reigate Grammar School and former head of Keir Starmer’s alma mater, praises the resilience and maturity of the “Covid generation” of GCSE students.

Though spared early childhood disruption, these adolescents entered secondary school during the pandemic, missing key milestones and enduring years of uncertainty, isolation, and screen-based life.

Fenton emphasises the emotional toll they've carried, but also the strength, moral clarity, and hunger for real-life connection they’ve developed. As they now face public exams, many for the first time, he urges schools and society to honour them not only as students, but as emotionally resilient survivors and future leaders.