Week ahead: GCSE students to get results as Europa League and Champions League finals bring football season to an end

They will be given their grades a week after A-level students found out their fate, with thousands in England having their results downgraded from the predictions submitted by their teachers.

For both sets of qualifications, the Government last week announced a ‘triple lock’ approach, meaning students can accept the grades they are allocated, can sit exams in autumn or can seek to mount an appeal to have ‘valid’ mock exam results accepted instead.

Receiving results is already a nerve-wracking time for many young people and the unprecedented situation with Covid-19 – compounded by the ongoing fallout from last week’s A-level results and a lack of clarity around how any appeals process will work – will no doubt be causing them even more worry.

Racing

The Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival, at York Racecourse, will be held behind closed doors this week as a result of the pandemic.

For those wanting to watch, highlights from the event, running from Wednesday to Saturday, will be broadcast on ITV, which will show five races a day, whilst Racing TV will screen all 28 contests.

Football

Elsewhere in sport, the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League final is due to be held in Cologne on Friday and will be followed by the Champions League final on Sunday.

The two events will finally end the delayed football season, after Covid-19 disruption.

There will be little break in play though as Liverpool will then take on Arsenal on August 29 in the Community Shield, a curtain-raiser for the new season.

It is expected that the full fixture schedule, detailing all the Premier League matches, will be released at some point this week, which, in Yorkshire, will no doubt be of particular interest to Leeds fans, after the team was promoted back to the top division for the first time in more than a decade.

Coronavirus

A number of publications due to be released by the Office for National Statistics this week could shed more light on how people have been affected by the coronavirus.

On Tuesday, a release based on a Coronavirus Infection Survey will provide data about the characteristics of people testing positive for Covid-19.

Other releases will explore the social impacts of the virus on disabled people and how the pandemic has affected adults with depression.

They come after the country collapsed into its largest recession on record as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.

Awareness day

August 19 marks World Humanitarian Day to commemorate all those aid workers killed or injured across the globe and to honour all those who continue to provide life-saving support and protection to people in need.

This year, there is a special focus on Covid-19 and on paying tribute to workers who are providing aid to people in crisis amidst all the risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

The United Nations campaign will share stories of humanitarian workers who have been treating and helping to prevent the virus, providing safe spaces for women and girls in lockdown, delivering babies and running refugee camps.

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