The children sitting their transfer exams in January will have their Christmas marred

The decision announced this week to defer AQE examinations until January 9 robs 10-year-old children and their families of a precious childhood Christmas.

The first exam will now happen literally days after the children return to school after the Christmas ‘holiday’.

My daughter, aged 10, said when she heard that: “Mummy, I will be scared on Christmas Eve.”

Instead of breathing a sigh of relief come December 12 and looking forward to a fun and restful Christmas break after months and months of work and stress, children will have the shadow of their first significant examinations hanging over them and all for a tiny increase in days at school.

Parents have not been consulted on the impact this 11th hour change will have on their children, not just the loss of Christmas, but the extension of stress and the possibility of burn-out for the many who have been working in preparation for November and December tests throughout the summer and before.

These are 10-year-old children and this is emphatically not a child centred decision. They have already experienced unprecedented pressures due to Covid 19.

On a practical basis three exams will now take place on consecutive early January Saturdays, no longer a break between them, right in the middle of peak cold and flu season.

Naturally there are arguments on all sides and the two families (with very specific needs) who won a judicial review which produced this ‘agreement’ have certainly had their views heard and responded to, but the majority have not.

If exams must be delayed (and most parents were happy with the previous dates) then the education minister, Peter Weir, his department and AQELtd must come up with different dates or forever, rightly, be known as the grinches who stole Christmas from our children because they settled a judicial review.

That’s not how we were taught democracy works and it’s emphatically the wrong decision for our children and will be long remembered by many.

Mrs Amanda Powell, Co Down