Exam Information

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Examinations Officer: Mr Richard Burdett
Email: exams@altwoodschool.co.uk

Years 11 & 13 November PPE Exams

We are running PPE (mock) exams for Year 11 and Year 13 students from Monday 18th to Thursday 28th November inclusive. The timetables for these exams can be found by clicking the links below. Students will also be issued with their own personal timetables, but as with all exams students should check any final seating changes each morning on the seating plans which are posted in the Hub.

Summer 2025 GCSE, Level 2, A Level & Level 3 Exams

Timetables for next summer's GCSE, BTEC, and Level 3 exams will be published here before Christmas. However, the main exams will start on Thursday 8th May 2025, although there will be some BTEC exams, the Art practical exams, and modern language oral exams before this. The summer half-term holiday is from Monday 26th to Friday 30th May 2025. All students must be available up to and including the national exams contingency day on Wednesday 25th June 2025, so summer holidays for these students must not be booked to start before Thursday 26th June 2025.

Exam Certificate Collection Arrangements

Summer 2024 exam season certificates will be released on Tuesday 3rd December 2024.

Certificates from the Summer 2023 and earlier exam seasons can be collected at any time. Please follow the procedure listed below.

Current Students

You should collect your certificates from Student Reception and will be required to show your Altwood ID and/or other identification and sign a declaration to confirm receipt of all relevant certificates at the time of collection.

Former Students

Certificates can be collected in person from the school reception, or can be sent by post. This option may be arranged via the Postal Delivery Request Form which is available by clicking the following link:

Exam Certificate Postal Request Form

Examination Certificates are unique and can never be replaced if lost. Exam boards will, however, issue Certified Statements of Results on request which can be used in the same way as a certificate, but this typically costs upwards of £43 per board. Our postal delivery therefore uses the Royal Mail Signed For (Recorded Delivery) service which has adequate insurance cover in the event of loss or damage. There is a single fixed fee of £12.50 to use this method of delivery and the fee needs to be paid by direct bank transfer to the Altwood School account since student SCOPAY accounts will typically no longer be active.

Alternatively, you can nominate someone else (e.g. a parent/carer, or sibling still in the school in years 11, 12 or 13) to collect your certificates for you by downloading, printing off, completing and signing the Exam Certificate Collection Form They must then bring the completed form to student reception and will be required to show their photo ID (passport or driving licence) or Altwood ID as well as signing a declaration to confirm receipt of your certificates at the time of collection.

General

Certificates are important legal documents which are required for CVs, job applications and to verify the Statement of Results which was issued on results day. Please ensure that they are kept securely as the school does not keep a copy, and if you lose or never collect them you will need to liaise directly with the relevant examination board(s) and pay for Certified Statements of Results. Uncollected certificates will be held in school for a period of one year until the student arranges postage or collection, after which time we reserve the right to destroy them.

Information for Candidates from the Exam Boards

All candidates sitting written examinations, undertaking controlled assessments (“coursework”), or taking on-screen tests must have read and understood the documents below as part of their preparation for public examinations. These documents are issued by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) on behalf of the exam boards.

It is particularly important that you understand the regulations surrounding controlled assessments for the preparation of your work, to know what is considered to be plagiarism and the penalties for breaking the regulations. All the documents listed can be found as attachments on this page.

Exam Timetables and Seating Plans

All candidates sitting external examinations will be provided with an individual candidate timetable prior to commencement of the exam period. This will be sent electronically via the ‘in touch’ system. These timetables will show students key information including their exam room, seat row and number and the length of the exam paper.

Exam Times

Public examinations will normally begin at 9:15am in the morning and 1:00pm in the afternoon. Students should arrive promptly for all scheduled exams and are asked to report to the Hub, main hall, or other location as notified thirty minutes before the start of the exam, for pre-exam registration before being sent to their exam room.

Once you have arrived in the exam room, you will be given your opportunity to hand over potential technological/web-enabled sources of information such as mobile phones, ear buds, smart glasses, MP3 players as well as your watch (analogue or digital), before the exam starts (more details can be seen below).

Exam times have been carefully planned to consider any impact on students who use the coach transport. In the rare occasion where an exam is scheduled to finish beyond the departure time for the coaches, parents and students will be notified in advance and are asked to make suitable alternative travel arrangements.

If you are running late on the day of an exam, please telephone reception on 01628 622236, who will ensure that the examinations team are aware.

You should come into school as soon as possible and start the examination late.

You are not allowed to sit the examination if you arrive more than one hour after an examination has started in the case of any paper of an hour or more, or for papers of less than one hour, if you arrive once the paper has been completed.

Exam Clashes

Exam clashes may occur where two scheduled examinations are due to take place at the same time. These will be identified in advance and your individual candidate timetable will show details of the re-arranged times.

Where students have an exam clash, it is normally necessary to keep these students in quarantine during the clash period to protect the integrity of the exam paper. Students will be briefed in advance of the specific arrangements for their clash.

If you have identified a clash on your individual candidate timetable that has not been resolved, please speak to the examinations officer immediately.

Illness

If you are unwell on the day of an exam you must notify the attendance officer as a matter of urgency by telephoning 01628 622236. On the same day you must contact your doctor’s surgery to seek medical advice. You must complete the JCQ Self Certification Form 14 which must be signed by the student, parent, doctor’s surgery and the school. Please click the link below to download the form.

JCQ Self Certification Form 14

The completed form must be returned to the Examinations Officer within 48 hours and failure to complete it may result in a withdrawal fee being charged.

Following submission of the self-certification form, the Examinations Officer will make a special consideration application to the relevant exam board. The examination board will decide whether they can award a grade or whether you will need to sit the examination at the next session. The outcome of a special consideration request will be communicated upon receipt by the school.

Equipment and the Exam Room

The school’s policy is that no mobile phones or prohibited items may be left in your bag within the exam hall or room. There will be a table in the room (in the main hall one for each column) on which there will be your photo ID card and a supply of clear plastic Ziplock bags. Before going to your allocated exam desk you must put in this bag any potential technological/web-enabled sources of information such as mobile phones, ear buds, smart glasses, MP3 players, your watch (analogue or digital), as well as your photo ID card. Seal the bag and place it in the box provided, and remember the column you are seated in. If you are not handing in any itemsplease leave the photo ID card on the desk.

You will be given a verbal reminder by the invigilators to ensure you have complied with this request.

All items will then be placed into secure storage for the duration of the exam. If any prohibited item is then found with you or in your bag during the examination, you will be subject to a malpractice investigation, which is a serious offence and could result in DISQUALIFICATION from your examination and your overall qualification. The typical penalty imposed by the exam boards for the possession of a mobile phone during an examination without using it (this is the most common form of malpractice) is the loss of all marks for that examination.

Before the start of the exam you will be told where you may collect your items when it finishes, typically the Hub.

Access Arrangements

Some students may be entitled to certain concessions during their examinations known as access arrangements. Students who may be eligible for this support are identified by the SENDCO and undergo formalised testing. Access arrangements are specific to individual candidates and must be applied for well in advance of the main exam period starting.

Students who have access arrangements may take their examination in a satellite room. This will be identified on their individual candidate timetable. It is the school’s practice to keep students with access arrangements in the same room for all of their exams where practically possible.

Only students with access arrangement entitlements will be allowed to use a bilingual dictionary or computer spell checker.

If you have questions relating to access arrangement entitlements or support, please contact the SENDCO, Mrs G. Prince on 01628 622236.

Other information

If you feel ill during the examination or wish to communicate with an invigilator for any reason, you must raise your hand and wait for them to come over to speak to you
If there is a fire alarm, you will be instructed about the procedure and must follow all instructions from the invigilators
You will not be allowed to leave the exam room before the published end time
A code of conduct will be read before the start of each exam. Please listen carefully and follow this in order to satisfy the requirements of the examination boards

Post-Results Services

Review of Results

Following the release of public examination results, the school will review all candidates’ performance against their predicted performance. Where the school believes there has been an error in marking, or that a review is likely to result in a higher grade based on published grade boundaries, the school may consider requesting a review by the exam board(s) of the candidate’s paper(s).

Reviews may be also be requested by parents/carers at their own expense, when a review is not supported/recommended by the school on the grounds that it is unlikely to result in a better grade, based on published grade boundaries.

Parent or candidate led requests must be submitted in writing to the Examinations Officer by sending an email to exams@altwoodschool.co.uk . He will then give further advice and the cost of the service, and the candidate will need to sign a consent form. Payment will need to be made before the application is submitted to the board.

Parents and candidates are reminded that a review can result in marks and/or grades being lowered. It is recommended, therefore, that candidates seek the advice of their subject teacher(s) or head of department before making a request.

Note that the period in which a review can be requested is limited to a few weeks after the release of results; once the deadline has passed the boards cannot process requests.

Recall of Exam Scripts

Scripts may be requested by the school to either inform/support an appeal about a result or for teaching and learning purposes. Candidates will be approached by the Examinations Officer and will need to give their consent before a script may be requested.

Scripts may be requested by parents/carers even when the school has not chosen to do so. This will be at their expense, as advised by the Examinations Officer. Candidates will need to give their consent and full payment will be required in advance of the application being submitted.

Former Students - Lost Exam Certificates

If you never collected your exam certificates and if the exams were taken within the past three academic years we may still have them - please email exams@altwoodschool.co.uk to enquire.

If you have lost your exam certificates, then you will need to follow the procedure at https://www.gov.uk/replacement-exam-certificate and pay a fee to each exam board for a certified statement of results which can be used like a certificate. If you took your exams here after Summer 2006 then we should have a copy of your results which will help identify the exam board(s) which were used for each subject. This may save you having to pay a fee to each board to perform a search. Please email exams@altwoodschool.co.uk to check if we can send you a copy of your results.