Summer 2021 GCSE and A Level results

All GCSE & A Level examination certificates are now available for collection in school from Monday to Friday 8.30 to 3.30

Students need to sign when collecting certificates or provide a letter authorising a 3rd party to collect

As fraudulent certification is on the rise in the UK, all certificates now include a hologram and schools must return any unclaimed certificates directly to the exam board for secure destruction in July 2022. Duplicate certificates or notification of results may only subsequently be obtained directly from the exam boards who charge up to £100 per certificate

 

Examinations in Summer 2021 were cancelled, and schools were asked to give students an assessed grade based on a range of evidence collected over their time of study. We have given the information below to provide you with the key information you will need to collect your results, and understand how they have been determined.

Collection of results:

 

For A level students, results will be made available from 10th August. They will be emailed to all students at around 8.30am on the 10th August.

For GCSE students, results will be made available from 12th August. They will be available for collection between 9.00 and 11.00 from the school main hall. Unfortunately, we can only give the results to the student unless we have written permission from the student in advance. We will need a form of ID to release the results.

 

Process by which grades were determined:

 

Our school policy on the Summer 2021 grades can be found here Summer-2021-Arnewood Centre policy on CAG creation and submission

We supplied guidance before Easter explaining the assessments to be conducted and the methodology for creating the CAGs on our Firefly website.

For GCSE students it could be found at https://arnewood.fireflycloud.net/parent-info/key-stage-4—centre-assessed-grades

For A level students it could be found at https://arnewood.fireflycloud.net/parent-info/key-stage-5—centre-assessed-grades

To ensure the grade we have provided is rigorous and accurate, we have followed a number of internal and external quality assurance processes which are listed below.

All students who have access arrangements agreed with the JCQ were informed they must do their assessments with our Examinations officer so we were sure these had been offered.

Samples of work have been double marked by a second member of staff and moderated to ensure that we have applied examination mark schemes appropriately and consistently, and to check grades have been awarded in line with appropriate grade boundaries.

To avoid bias and ensure grades are based on the evidence available, at least two members of staff have been involved in determining each grade. This also helps ensure that we have used reasonable academic judgement in forming the grades.

All data has been submitted to the examination boards by the examinations officer and a member of the senior team, and data entry checks have been carried out to minimise the risk of administration errors.

The grades we have submitted were reviewed by the examination boards through June and July as part of their quality assurance checks.

We believe that our policy and the quality assurance procedures we have put in place demonstrate that we have given time, care and attention regarding the assessments chosen to form the grades on, in supporting and preparing the students for the assessments, the method used in determining the overall grades and the processes in moderating and submitting the grades to the exam board. We hope that this gives you confidence and reassurance in the grades we have submitted.

 

Appeals:

 

We hope that students will be happy with their results. However, in some cases students may wish to appeal the grades we have submitted. We are following the guidance set out by the JCQ (Joint Council of Qualifications) in dealing with any appeal.

If you wish to appeal, all contact must be through the email address examresults@arnewood.hants.sch.uk.  Please DO NOT email Mrs White, Mr Hutson or Mr Colman direct as these addresses may not be monitored during the Summer holidays.

  1. The first stage is indicating to us that you wish to appeal by contacting us at examresults@arnewood.hants.sch.uk. We will then send you a copy of the Centre Review appeal form, and the evidence base that was used to determine your child’s grade.
  2. If you wish to continue with the appeals process, you must then complete the Centre Review appeal form, and email it back to us at examresults@arnewood.hants.sch.uk.
    • We will then review the form and inform you of the outcome.
    • There are two types of appeal, Priority and Normal.
      • Priority is for Sixth form students only, where they have not got their first choice of university due to one of the grades. The Priority appeal ‘fast tracks’ the appeal to help the student gain their place. Please indicate this by ticking the ‘Priority’ box on the form.
      • Normal is for all other appeals, including all GCSE students.
    • You may appeal at this stage for two reasons:
      • Administration error: If you believe that we have made an administration error in the grade submitted.
      • Procedural error: If you believe that we have not followed the procedure set out in our policy and it will impact your grade. An example may be not taking into account access arrangements where a student has been awarded them.
    • Stage one appeals must be made to us by Monday 16th August for A Level Priority appeals and Friday 3rd September for A level and GCSE Normal appeals. Please note that Normal appeals made after 13thAugust may not be processed until Friday 3rd.
  3. If you wish to continue with the appeals process as you are unhappy with the Centre Review outcome, you must then complete the Stage Two appeal.
    • We will supply you with a stage two form if you wish to appeal. We are required to submit any stage two appeal passed to us to the relevant exam board, and they will review the evidence. Please submit your appeal to examresults@arnewood.hants.sch.uk.
    • You may appeal on the following grounds:
      • Administrative error: If you believe we have not resolved the administration error.
      • A procedural error: If you believe we have not resolved the procedural error.
      • Unreasonable exercise of academic judgement: If you believe the evidence base we used to determine your grade is unreasonable, or how we have used the evidence base to determine your grade is unreasonable.
  • All appeals at this stage will require a written explanation from you, up to 5,000 words to explain the nature of the appeal. The examination board will review your appeal application and decide to uphold or reject your appeal. If the grade awarded is considered to be a reasonable exercise of academic judgement, then the original grade will not be amended. For example, if the exam board believe that the grade awarded could have been a high 6 or a low 7, then whichever of the two grades the school awarded (whether it be a 6 or a 7) will stand and the exam board will not amend it. The examination board will contact us with the outcome, and we will then contact you.
  • Any Stage Two appeals must be passed to us by 17th August for A Level Priority appeals and 10thSeptember for A level and GCSE Normal appeals to ensure we are able to submit them to the exam boards by their deadlines.

 

Autumn Examinations:

 

The examination boards are running an Autumn examination season to support those students who wish to take the examinations.

  • There is no cost to Arnewood students to be entered for and sit these examinations. However, if students request an entry and then do not attend for the examinations we reserve the right to charge the student for the examination entry fees.
  • The deadline for informing us that you wish to sit an examination is currently Monday 6th September.

It is important to note that any appeal may result in your grade being raised, kept the same OR lowered, if the evidence is found to support this change.

Stage Two appeals can ONLY be submitted if a Stage One Centre Review appeal has been conducted.

The JCQ official documentation for students and parents can be found at https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/JCQ-Guidance-for-Students-and-Parents-on-Summer-2021.pdf