I think also the attitude of schools/teachers to what could be done in the situation also had an impact.
I remember last May we had a local "socially distanced" street "party" on the VE day 50th anniversary and I heard the son of our neighbours complaining - he was in GCSE year but his teachers at the local state school (who are probably the top ranking state school in the city) had basically told him "school is sending everyone home, you'll have no exams so you've got a 6 month holiday - aren't you lucky!". He was angry befause he had friends who went to a local private school and were still being taught so that they could both finish and master all the GCSE syllabus + get a head start on A-levels. He basically saw this as being unfair and that he was being left behind because his teachers had basically abandoned him.
Meanwhile, as a further contrast, we know someone who teaches in a private boarding school here which is another level up in the school rankings ... not only were they doing the full teaching program on-line but they were also often doing lessons twice to cope with the large number of overseas students that had gone home with a morning lesson for UK, European and Asian puplis and a late afternoon repeat for pupils in the Americas.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
