Summer Exams 2021

Teacher Assessed Grades

This has been a difficult and worrying period of time, and we know that many of you are feeling anxious and concerned about the process of the summer Teacher Assessed Grades and and managing your workload. Our priority is to support both your well-being and your academic progress, and we want to reassure you that we understand the stress you might be feeling, and that we are fully focused on supporting you with whatever you need.  

Naturally there will be concern over how grades will be calculated this summer, and the information below should help you to understand how this will happen. Please remember that all of our teachers are here to help and will support you through this process. 

You will, no doubt, have heard that Ofqual has now published how they expect examination grades to be awarded this summer.  You will know that exams have been cancelled and that teachers will determine your grade by assessing only what you have been taught. 

Grades need to be sent to exam boards by June 18th and the results days will be on August 10th for A Level and August 12th for GCSE students. Before this time, teachers are not able to tell you what they have submitted to exam boards. It is also important that you (nor any member of your family) approach members of staff enquiring about the grade you will be awarded as this is seen as malpractice by the exam boards, who ultimately issue the awarded grades).

To help you understand how your grades will be assessed, it is useful for you to know the approach that is being taken by our school. We will make sure that: 

• No student should be disadvantaged and all need to the opportunity to demonstrate  best what they know 
  Your teachers know you well and are trusted to use their professional judgement 
  There will be a range of evidence gathered to make the overall judgement 

This means we will use a range of work to determine your grade, some of which may be sections of past papers, or indeed unseen papers from exam boards.  They may be exam-style questions, short written pieces or  ongoing projects, all of which will help us decide your final grade.  You will not be assessed on any sections of work that you have not already been taught. We will let you know in due course exactly which pieces of work will be used to support your teachers’ judgments. 

Please remember that we want to provide opportunities for you to show us your best work and therefore we have provided you with a timetable, which we will update with more details as we progress through the summer.  Remember, it is important to be in school every day in order to take full advantage of the work your teachers are doing with you and for  you to be able to demonstrate what you know, and can do.

Further information:

Letter to Parents/Carers and students

Appeals to the Teacher Assessed Grades:

Ofqual have recently published the consultation decisions for summer 2021 appeals.  Here are the key points in regards to the appeals process

Stage one – Centre review

• If a student feels their grade is wrong, they should speak to their school or college first to check if there was a mistake in determining or submitting the grade.
• If there was a mistake, schools and colleges can submit a revised grade to the exam board to consider.

Stage two – Exam board review

• there was an error in the way the school or college followed or applied its procedure for determining their grade
• the school or college did not make a reasonable judgement when deciding which evidence to use to determine their grade
• the school or college did not make a reasonable judgement about their grade based on the evidence gathered.

• If schools and colleges don’t find a mistake but the student still believes that their grade is wrong, they can ask their school or college to submit a formal appeal to the exam board for them. Students can appeal if they believe any of the following applies:
• If an appeal is submitted to an exam board, schools and colleges will need to supply the complete evidence in support of the student’s grade.
   
• Deadlines – appeals must be submitted to exams boards by 23 August 2021 for priority appeals (for students applying to higher education who did not get their first choice, and wish to appeal an A-level or other Level 3 qualification result), or by 17 September 2021 for non-priority appeals.

Correcting results – Students should be aware that their grade could go up, down, or stay the same.

Appeals information for Students

Appeals Information (BTEC courses)

Year 13 Teacher Assessed Grades Outline