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First Minister praises pupils as exam results are released across Scotland


By Scott Maclennan

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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she does not underestimate how tough the lockdown has been on those who had been due to sit exams this summer.

At today's Scottish Government coronavirus briefing she was joined by education secretary John Swinney who commended the Scottish Qualifications Authority on developing a system that allowed pupils to receive certifications based on work they had already done.

Ms Sturgeon said: "It is a long time since I got my results but I still remember it like it was yesterday.

"It is a really big moment and a young person's life so I hope you got what you were hoping for – but if you didn't it's really important to remember that there are lots of options open to you.

"Whatever your results are you should all be incredibly proud of the way you coped with the challenges of the past few months.

"At a moment’s notice you had to adapt to new forms of learning, your contact with friends and family was restricted, many of you missed out on a proper final year and you didn't get to sit exams.

"The SQA is this year running a free appeal service.

"There is also an SQA candidate candidate advice line – you should call the advice line if you have questions about your certificate."

A today's briefing Ms Sturgeon also announced a new Scotland-wide survey to run in parallel with a UK system to detect when and where there could be Covid-19 spikes.

The idea is to provide a new form of modelling to help provide better early warning signs of increasing risk of the virus.

It will ask about contacts, travel and facemask use, with around 3000 people needed to take part.

The First Minister also revealed that Scotland has reached a 19th day in a row without any new deaths from confirmed cases of Covid-19, though there were an additional 23 positive coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.

The overall number of positive cases now stands at 18,717, with initial information suggesting that 15 of the 23 new cases are in the Grampian health board area though it remains unclear whether they are linked to an outbreak in Aberdeen.


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