Up to 1,000 campaigners are set to descend on Bristol this Friday to voice their anger and disbelief over the A-level 'fiasco'.
Thousands of students across our city were left disappointed on Thursday (August 13) when they opened their results to discover they had been downgraded.
This has left them in a state of panic, as they can no longer attend their first choice university.
A-level students were not able to sit exams this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ministers used an Ofqual algorithm to give students their final grades, which saw almost 40 per cent of them marked down from teachers' predictions.
Co-organiser of Friday's protest, Rhianna Prewett, was one of those students. The Kingwood pupil was predicted A*AB, but on the day was awarded ABB.
This means she has lost her place at London's School of Economics but was still able to secure her second choice at Bristol University.
"I feel angry and let down," said the 17-year-old. "I am from a low-income household and I feel all my life I've been told by society if I work hard, I can work my way up.
"The system has been rigged against the the most disadvantaged. I'm being marked down purely because I live in a poorer area.
"Gavin Williamson and the government actively chose to be more generous towards independent schools, whilst state schools have been harshly moderated.
"We are calling for a student-led protest, next Friday to demand changes to this unfair system."
Rhianna said unlike lots of students from richer backgrounds, she does not have time to appeal.
"I am going to accept Bristol," said Rhianna. "No one knows how long the appeal system is going to take and I've got the stress of trying to find accommodation and everything else.
"I don't know how to work the system or have parents who can haggle to get me a place.
"We have been lied to all this time that we live in a meritocracy, a system that allows you work your way up."
Around 1,000 students St Brendan's Sixth Form College, where Rhianna studied, are facing a similar situation.
"We want as many people to come on Friday as possible," said Rhianna. "And not just to protest against this fiasco but also the whole system.
"For the students who have not had internet access throughout the pandemic which means they haven't been able to do home learning."
The event, being organised by Rhianna and Dilan Kaygisiz, will take place at 1pm, on College Green.
Find out more here.
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