Letter to Year 11 6th April 2020
6th April 2020
Dear Year 11 student,
On 18 March 2020, the Secretary of State announced that the summer 2020 exam series would be cancelled in order to help fight the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and that students due to sit the exams would be awarded a grade based on an assessment of the grade they would have been most likely to achieve had exams gone ahead.
On Friday, Ofqual released guidance on how qualifications will be graded and awarded in summer 2020. They are asking schools for:
• A centre assessment grade for each student – the judgement submitted to the exam board by the Head of Centre about the grade that each student is most likely to have achieved if they had sat their exams. This professional judgement is derived from evidence held within the centre and which has been reviewed by subject teachers and relevant heads of department
• The rank order of students within each grade – for example, for all those students with a grade of 5 in GCSE maths, or a grade B in A level biology, a rank order where 1 is the most secure/highest attaining student, and so on.
Attached is a letter sent to you and your parents from Ofqual which explains this process further. I would urge you to take the time to read this as it outlines clearly how grades will be calculated. At City Academy, and indeed across the CLF Federation, we will follow the guidance closely and fairly and remind you that this process is confidential. We expect results will be sent out no later than the normal August window and perhaps earlier.
In the meantime, it is so important that we look after ourselves and our families during this unsettling time. If you have any questions regarding your pathway and options next year then please do contact myself ([email protected]) or Miss Cook ([email protected]) via email.
Example questions may be:
1. “What happens if I don’t get the grades to get on to the college course I have applied for?”
2. “What happens if I no longer want to do the course I originally applied for, is it too late to change?”
3. “What options are out there for me if I don’t get on to the courses I have applied for?” Equally, if you have not yet heard from your college or sixth regarding your place please let Miss Cook know as soon as possible so we can make sure this gets followed up as soon as possible.
May I take this opportunity to remind you that we have several Post 16 provisions across the CLF and that we would welcome applications from you.
As you are currently in our CLF Year 11, we will be in a position to confirm a place. We will send out more detail on the courses that are available next week.
Boomsatsuma – https://www.boomsatsuma.education/
CLF Post 16 – https://www.clfpost16.org/
Digitech Studio School – https://digitechstudioschool.co.uk/
Winterstoke Hundred Academy – https://winterstokehundredacademy.clf.uk/
There is meaningful work being set now for you (Year 11) that whist will not be considered for the teacher assessed grade, is important for your progression to the next phase, particularly in English and Maths and subjects that you intend to follow in the next stage of your education. To access home learning, you need to log in to the student area of the City Academy website, then click on CLF home learning, then City Academy, then Year 11. There is also a guide for sending work to teachers.
Included are some links which you will find really useful, such as how to create a CV and for researching different career pathways including higher education.
Career Information:
Bristol Works will be sharing an employability tool kit for students, support with making applications, online interviews, telephone calls: focus on different job sectors (and different employers) every 2 weeks
https://www.bristol.works/find-a-job
Main gov.uk apprenticeships search website
https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship
All career information can be found at
https://www.careerpilot.org.uk
Career Pilot is like a SAT-NAV when navigating your dream career.
National Career Service
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk
Online Learning Links:
Future Quest, for employability and higher education online learning resources, as well as key resources for looking after your mental health
https://www.futurequest.org.uk/students
British Sign Language (BSL) online Learning
https://www.british-sign.co.uk/learn-online-british-signlanguage-course/
It is really important that we are looking after our mental wellbeing just as much as our physical health.
Kooth is a web based confidential support service available to young people that provides a safe and secure means of accessing mental health and wellbeing support designed specifically for young people. Kooth offers young people the opportunity to have a text-based conversation with a qualified counsellor. Counsellors are available from 12noon to 10pm on weekdays and 6pm to 10 pm at weekends, every day of the year on a drop-in basis. Young people can access regular booked online counselling sessions as needed. Outside counselling hours’ young people can message our team and get support by the next day.
If you need further information or support regarding any of the above please contact me by email.
Look after yourself (and each other) and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Miss Litchfield
Assistant Principal
City Academy
A message for all GCSE, AS and A level students this summer
I understand how unsettling the past weeks have been for you, since the announcement that exams have been cancelled this summer, and that you are urgently waiting for news. I wanted to let you know what we are doing to provide you with grades. Our over-riding aim in this is to be fair to students this summer and to make sure you are not disadvantaged in your progress to sixth form, college, university, apprenticeships, training or work because of these unprecedented conditions.
How will grades be calculated?
Your school or college will be asked to send exam boards two pieces of information for each of your subjects, based on what they know about your work and achievements:
• the grade they believe you were most likely to get if teaching, learning and exams had happened as planned
• within each subject, the order of students at your school or college, by performance, for each grade. This information will be used to standardise judgements – allowing fine tuning of the standard applied across schools and colleges
Your school or college will consider a range of things like your classwork and homework; your results in assignments and any mock exams; any non-exam assessment or coursework you might have done; and your general progress during your course.
This information will allow us, with exam boards, to standardise grades across schools and colleges, to make sure that, as far as possible, results are fair and that students are not advantaged or disadvantaged because their schools or colleges are more generous or harsh than others when GCSE, AS and A 3 April 2020 level students in England making those judgements. That means the final grade you get could be different from the one your school or college sends to the exam board.
Do I need to complete any new work for my school/college to submit a grade?
Your school or college is not required to set additional mock exams or homework for your centre assessment grade, and you won’t be disadvantaged if you were not set, or were unable to complete, any work given out after schools were closed.
Can I see the grades my school/college submits for me?
No, this information will be confidential. Please don’t ask your teachers, or anyone else at your school or college, to tell you the grades they will be sending to the exam boards or where they have placed you in the order of students; they will not be allowed to share this with you.
I am a private candidate – what does this mean for me?
If you are a private candidate (for example, home-schooled, following distance-learning programmes or studying independently) the centre you are entering with should include you where the head teacher or principal is confident that they and their staff have seen sufficient evidence of your achievement to make an objective judgement. We are urgently exploring whether there are alternative options for those students who do not have an existing relationship with a centre and who need results this summer to progress. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be possible for all private candidates, some of whom may instead need to take exams in the autumn to get their grades.
We appreciate that this is a matter of real concern to private candidates and will provide an update as soon as possible. We have asked organisations that represent universities and FE colleges to consider the steps that providers could take when making admissions decisions this summer for any private candidates who do not receive a grade. They have told us that they believe that institutions will consider a range of other evidence and information for these students to allow them to progress wherever possible.
When will I get my results?
We’re working hard to get results out as soon as is possible – results won’t be delayed after the dates they were expected in August, and ideally they will be issued a little earlier, so you can have the certainty you need.
Can I take my exams another time?
We are working with exam boards to offer additional exams in the autumn term as soon as it is possible to do so. We’ll let you know about these in the coming weeks.
The information we have published covers GCSEs, AS and A levels, plus Extended Project Qualifications and Additional Extension Awards in maths.
You can find out more about which qualifications and students are included, and the current arrangements for those which are not, in our detailed guidance; along with answers to other questions that you and your parents or carers might have. We will keep updating our guidance as new information becomes available, including to share details about vocational and technical qualifications as soon as we can, so please keep an eye on our website.
Please be reassured that the grades you get this summer will look exactly the same as in previous years, and they will have equal status with universities, colleges and employers, to help you move forward in your lives as planned.
With every best wish,
Sally Collier
Chief Regulator, Ofqual
