Exams

Welcome to our examinations page. Here you will find information about all the examinations that take place throughout the school year. 

In January, the government announced examinations will not be going ahead as planned this year and that instead teachers' estimated grades will be used to replace cancelled GCSEs and A-levels in England this summer.

O n this page, you can find more information about this decision and how grades will be awarded this summer, including helpful links and copies of useful documentation.

Government guidance to schools

The government set out its policy on how grades should be awarded this year in a letter dated 25 February 2021. You can find more information on this policy here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/how-qualifications-will-be-awarded-in-2021

Following this, full guidance was then provided to schools on 26th March on the website of the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), who represent the main examination boards: https://www.jcq.org.uk/summer-2021-arrangements/ This information has been set out for students and their parents in a document that you can access in the key documents section of this page.

In summary:

Teachers will determine grades this summer based on a holistic judgement of each student’s performance across a range of evidence. Before grades are submitted to the exam board, each school will complete a rigorous process of quality assurance to check that consistent judgements have been made. This process will be set out in a Centre Policy document which will be submitted to JCQ by the end of April.

Exam boards will then conduct their own quality assurance of schools, checking Centre Policies and providing support and guidance where necessary. Once all grades have been submitted to the exam boards by schools on 18th June, exam boards will continue the quality assurance process, only finalising grade awards once they are satisfied the grades are as fair and accurate as possible. Grades will be released in August.

Arrangements for determining grades at Hove Park School

What assessments will be used as evidence?

The government have emphasised that judgements about grades must only be based on the evidence of a student’s work. They have also requested that schools take a ‘holistic’ approach, which means teachers need to look at a range of assessment evidence when making their judgements about grades.

Each subject at Hove Park School has planned what assessment evidence will be used from work already completed across the GCSE course. This work will be supplemented by a series of further assessments which will take place in the summer term between 19th April and 28th May. A document that contains details about the assessments that will be used as evidence to determine grades in every subject will be shared with students and their parents in the summer term.

How will the assessments in the summer term be organised?

We have made a decision not to condense all the assessments in to one ‘assessment week’ or short period of time. Instead, assessments will take place throughout the 6-week half-term, between Monday 19th April and Friday 28th May. This will allow us to ensure that the assessments are well spread out, to support students with their revision and preparation. The assessments will take place in-class in normal lesson time and will not take place in a formal exam situation.

The timetables for these assessments can be found in the key documents section of this web page. Students need to take all assessments; we will arrange catch up if a test is missed through absence.

Provision has been put in place for any students entitled to special arrangements for exams and assessments e.g. extra-time, readers, scribes or word processors. Details about special arrangements can be found in a booklet in the key documents section of this page.

How will NEA (Non-Examined Assessment) be included in the process of determining grades?

Students should continue to work on their non-exam assessment (NEA). It will be marked by teachers and will contribute to the overall grade. For practical and vocational subjects, the mark for written assessments will be combined with NEAs to arrive at a grade. For subjects where NEA makes up the whole grade, like Art and Photography, there will not be any written assessments in the summer term.

What quality assurance will be in place to ensure grades are accurate and fair?

Our quality assurance process includes the following:

• Training – Training support, information, advice and guidance will be provided to teachers throughout the process

• Marking moderation – This is a process where the marking of assessments is checked to ensure there is a consistent standard of marking across each subject by all teachers.

• Grade reviews - Once a teacher has determined a grade, it will be reviewed by other teachers and subject leaders, so grades are determined consistently

• Subject reviews – Once each subject has completed a grades review, the provisional set of grades will be reviewed and checked by senior leaders

• Administration check – Once the main process of quality assurance is complete, administration checks will be completed to ensure there are no errors when grades are submitted to the exam board.

Each school needs to complete a Centre Policy document setting out the quality assurance process they have in place. Exam boards will check these policies to make sure they meet their requirements. Once schools have submitted their grades by 18th June 2021, exam boards will complete their own quality assurance process before grade awards are finalised.

Further Advice and Support

Questions about the process for determining grades this summer: office@hovepark.org.uk

Questions about general exam administration, including exam entries and results days: exams@hovepark.org.uk

Questions about access arrangements: SENDManagement@hovepark.org.uk

Year 11 year office: year11office@hovepark.org.uk

6th form year office: mcox@hovepark.org.uk

Key Documents