An unusual spring semester

The 3u mock exams had only been running for a couple of days in March when, due to Covid-19, the Danish Government closed all schools in the country.

After a few weeks, the IB announced that they were going to cancel the May 2020 examinations and assess the students based on other factors, instead. It was not easy for the students to be at home, not knowing the outcome of the exam cancellations, not knowing what the subsequent new assessment would look like, or how the entire situation would affect their chances of going to university. Therefore, we all sighed with great relief for both the students and the administration when the country began opening again in May, and we were able to welcome students back to school. Finally, we could celebrate the end of exams with hat ceremonies and receptions which, this year, had a very different setup: we ran eight receptions in two days with 15 students at each and with only two family members per student present.

Although it was not possible for everyone to celebrate together, it turned out to be two beautiful days with lots of smiles and cheers. For the 2u students and pre-IB students, the lockdown meant a long period of distance learning and online teaching, paired with the uncertainty of not knowing when they could return to school. The Corona crisis unfortunately also meant cancelled CAS trips to Edinburgh, Berlin, Krakow, and Prague, which the 2u’s were supposed to attend at the end of April. Finally, to our great relief, we were able to call them back to school for some exams and other activities in June. It was such a pleasure to see them before we all went on holiday.

The closure of schools around the world has a long-term effect, and the IBO has therefore decided to cancel a number of exam papers in the May 2021 exam session, to lessen the workload and time pressure.