Exams 2021
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JTHS GCSE and A level appeals process 2021
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JTHS Results Day procedures 2021
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Exams 2021 - Summary of national arrangements
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JTHS Centre Policy (Exams 2021)
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JTHS process for Teacher Assessed Grades
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A Level Subject Assessment Records
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GCSE Subject Assessment Records
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Exams 2021 - JTHS arrangements (12/03/21 update)
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Exam board assessments (23/03/21 update)
Please find our GCSE and A level appeals process in the document below:
Due to the removal of Covid linked guidelines, we will be able to largely return to a regular results day this year. However, we are very mindful of the risks of overcrowding, and we will also be considering the fact that many families may prefer not to have to physically attend school to collect their results.
In summary:
- A level results day is on Tuesday 10th August
- GCSE results day is on Thursday 12th August
- Results will be visible in Go4Schools from 8.30am.
- Students can attend school from 8.30am to collect their results in person
- For ‘alternative result collection’, see the options at the bottom of the page.
On arrival
Proceed to the tennis courts where you will be directed to the appropriate queue to join for the gym and the route you should use to get there.
In order to prevent overcrowding, only students will be allowed to enter the gym, parents should wait on the tennis courts.
Collection of results (gym)
- Please join the appropriate queue outside of the gym (according to your surname). You will be directed to these by a member of staff.
- You will be directed to the correct table in the gym to collect your envelope. Please wait your turn and be patient.
- Do not open your results, follow the one-way system to the hall
Opening results (hall)
- On collection of results, students should move directly into the hall where they can either open their results envelopes or exit onto the tennis courts to open them with their parents.
- Please do not congregate inside, we are still attempting to limit overcrowding inside. Parents should wait outside.
Booking appointments to discuss next steps
- If, on opening your results, you believe that you need to make an appointment to discuss your John Taylor 6th form / university place with a member of staff, please proceed to the Sixth Form desk in the Hall where a member of staff will be available to make an appointment for you or e-mail [email protected].
- Enter from the top of the hall to be directed.
- Following on from making your appointment, please exit the school via the sixth form entrance, proceed to the front of school to meet your parents or return home.
- If you would like an appointment to discuss your TAG, in line with our appeals guidance, you are able to request this as a ‘pre-review meeting’.
- Please email [email protected] to make an appointment.
- Our full ‘JTHS appeals process’ can be viewed on this link.
Alternative results collection
If you would prefer to have your results sent to you, or have them collected by someone else, you have the following options:
- Bring in a stamped self-addressed envelope for the attention of Mrs Foster who will then post them to you on results day
- Email Mrs Foster on [email protected] , prior to Friday 16th July 2021 to request your provisional statement of results by email. Mrs Foster will then email them to you between 10:00am and 12:00pm on results day.
- Have your provisional statement of results collected by someone else on your behalf. You will need to complete & sign the ‘Statement of results 3rd party collection form’. The person collecting your results will need to bring this completed form signed by you with some ID.
The form is on the website:
Statement of results 3rd party collection form
The following guidance provides a useful summary of the process for allocating grades in 2021.
How will grades be awarded this summer?
Grades for GCSEs, A levels, and most other qualifications including applied generals will be based on a process involving teacher assessment against national standards, internal quality assurance, and external quality assurance by the exam boards.
The national process defined by the Department for Education and the exams’ regulator, Ofqual is as follows:
- Teachers will assess students against a national standard, which will be defined by the exam boards before the Easter break.
- Departments will submit grades which will be quality assured by the school / college. This internal quality assurance process will have to be signed off by the exam board to ensure it is rigorous and in line with national standards.
- Our school or college results will be quality assured externally by the exam boards, which may include random sampling of our school or college’s evidence.
- If the exam boards are confident in our submitted results, then the exam boards will award students their final grades.
- If students do not think their results are accurate, they will have the right to appeal.
*part of the quality assurance process during points 2 & 3 will involve comparing the 2021 submitted results with previous achievement data for John Taylor High School.
So, do teachers award the grade?
Simply: no. The grade students achieve will start with their teacher’s assessment of their performance across a range of evidence. This is against a nationally-defined standard, not the teacher’s own opinion. This assessment is then subject to both internal and external quality assurance before the final grade is awarded by the exam body as usual.
Does this mean grades are decided by an algorithm?
No, unlike last year, students’ grades will not be changed by a formula. The internal and external quality assurance measures will all be done by humans, not an algorithm. There is no limit on the achievement of students, providing they have evidence that they are working at that grade.
What about loss of learning / impact of Covid?
This year, teachers will only assess students on content they have been taught – because of the continued disruption of the pandemic. This means students will not be disadvantaged if they individually, their whole class or whole year group have been unable to complete their full course. However, grades can only be submitted on the basis of the evidence we have of students’ performance, even if that evidence covers less of the course than usual. Students who would usually have extra time in the exams will benefit from the same arrangements in teacher assessment.
Will grades be different between different schools and colleges?
No, the standard against which teachers will be assessing students is set nationally by the exam boards. This is the standard that will be used during external quality assurance and appeals to ensure consistency and fairness across the system.
What evidence will be used?
Teachers are able to draw on a range of assessment evidence from across a student’s study of the course. This may include homework tasks, mock exams, and questions set by the exam boards. This may include evidence from before the second lockdown, as well as evidence from March – June. The exam boards are producing assessment materials that will be sent to us before Easter which we will use in summative assessments after Easter. Different departments may use different sources of evidence, and there is no requirement for any one type of assessment to be used – it’s about a performance across a range of evidence.
The exam boards are only giving out past papers, how is this fair?
Most of the assessments provided by the exam boards will be drawn from past papers, although there will be new questions as well. There is significant research that even if students have seen assessments questions before, it does not reduce the validity of the assessment. Furthermore, exam board questions are only one of the many pieces of evidence we will use to assess students this summer.
Can students and parents make the case for why a student should get a higher grade?
Our teachers are already using their professional expertise to assess students on the content they have been taught. Teachers are unable to submit higher grades for students unless they have the evidence that they are consistently working at this level. If teachers submit higher grades without evidence they are committing exam malpractice.
In 2020, any undue pressure by student or parent who placed undue pressure on teachers to increase grades was also considered exam malpractice. It is likely to be the same for 2021. If students or parents are found to be putting teachers or leaders under undue pressure to increase grades, then this matter will be referred to the exam boards and an investigation into malpractice may ensue. This may result in the student’s certificate being removed entirely if malpractice is deemed to have taken place.
Can students discuss their grades with teachers?
Teachers will be able to discuss which evidence they are using to inform their judgement with students, including marked or graded pieces of work.
However, we are not allowed to disclose their final submitted grade we give to the exam board.
Students should not attempt to second-guess the grade submitted, as teachers will be using a range of evidence to inform their final judgement. Students must not pressure teachers to reveal the grades they are submitting, or to increase the grades, as doing so may be considered exam malpractice.
What should students do to improve their grades?
The best thing students can do is to continue to attend classes, learn, act on feedback from their teachers, revise, and read around their subject. Their grade will be based on their performance, and so their outcomes are ultimately in their hands.
Please access the document below to view our Centre Policy for exams 2021. This has now been approved by JCQ via the external quality assurance process.
Stage 1 – Review of completed assessments and curriculum coverage
All departments reviewed their completed assessments and curriculum coverage to ensure that they have covered and assessed a large enough amount of the course to support the creation of a valid teacher assessed grade. This includes assessments completed in both years of the course as well as those remaining to be completed. From this review an assessment summary was created detailing the range of assessments that would be used to support the creation of TAG.
Stage 2 – Review of current grades
All departments reviewed their current grade calculations in Go4Schools to ensure they include an appropriate range of evidence as reviewed during stage 1. It does not include every single assessment but is in line with the Ofqual guidance. The current grade is not the same as the TAG. It may be used to support teacher judgement but does not dictate the final TAG.
Stage 3 – Subject teacher TAG
Subject teachers used their professional judgement and experience, alongside objective assessment data to create an initial TAG. JCQ also released grade descriptors in support of creating a holistic judgement. These were reviewed carefully by all departments during the process.
This grade should be a fair representation of student performance and teachers used evidence from throughout the course to support its creation.
No single piece of evidence was used in isolation as the grade should represent a suitable coverage of the curriculum covered. This includes exam-board assessments completed in May 2021. These were not final exams and as such were considered as one of the many pieces of assessment evidence available.
A grade cannot be given unless there is clear and objective evidence that it could be achieved when the full range of evidence has been reviewed.
Stage 4 – Internal subject level TAG quality assurance
All subject level TAG were collated to allow Curriculum Area Leaders and Lead Teachers to review the whole subject cohort on two levels:
- Review of all individual student grades to ensure they are a fair reflection of the assessment data and summary grades as explained in stage 1 & 2
- Review of whole subject summary data to ensure the overall progress and attainment data is broadly in line with the historic performance of that subject
These processes were completed between 24th – 28th May and were signed off as complete by two teachers within the department.
Stage 5 – Whole school quality assurance
On completion of stage 4, the senior leadership team reviewed all data to complete further analysis to ensure that the overall whole school and subject level summary data is broadly in line with historic data. This is in line with the standardisation process that we would expect to be carried out by exam boards before grades are issued. This stage included further checking of individual student grades and whole cohort data for all subjects.
Where anomalies were noticed, some subject leaders were asked to return to stage 4 for further review before finalising TAG. This stage was completed in partnership with JTMAT and was between 7th – 11th June.
Stage 6 – Final subject level quality assurance (where required)
As stated above, following whole school QA, any queries raised were noted and all relevant subjects conducted further review as required. This ensured that any potential anomalies were followed up and all subject teachers/heads of subject were able to have further discussion to ensure they were satisfied that grades are fair, accurate and appropriate.
At this stage, individual subject teachers were given the opportunity to review all of their final TAG.
Subject teachers were asked to confirm their grades as accurate and this whole process was then signed off by each Curriculum Area Leader and one other subject teacher (see stage 4). Any changes were firstly communicated and agreed to by the CAL.
The CAL completed a final check of all subject level data before signing it off in order to move to stage 7.
Stage 7 – Final whole school level quality assurance
Whole school and subject level summary data underwent final checking before being confirmed by the Head of Centre with reference to the Ofqual declaration.
Following this final check, all data was again checked by John Taylor MAT. This is to confirm that all TAG data is suitable and can be signed off by the Head of Centre with reference to the afore-mentioned Ofqual declaration before being submitted to relevant exam boards.
Please access the document below to view our subject assessment records
Please access the document below to view our GCSE subject assessment records
This more specific guidance should be read in conjunction with the general summary of national procedures. At this point the exact procedures for after Easter are yet to be finalised, we will update you as soon as we are able to do so.
The process this year is slightly different to last year in that we still have the opportunity to allow students to show us their current levels of progress. Also, as explained below, the guidance states the grade provided should be based on where students are performing now and not their potential. The time we have remaining is therefore highly important for all students.
We believe that last year’s process was extremely successful from a school point of view. We included a range of stages and measures to ensure the grades that were submitted were fair and appropriate and will do so again this year. Full details on the process will be published shortly but we wanted to give students and parents an idea of what they should expect moving forward.
What evidence will we use to support teachers in creating grades?
Teachers will use a range of evidence from across the course, this may include homework tasks, in class assessments, and questions set by the exam boards. As previously communicated, due to the nature of the year 11 & 13 trial exams this year, they will not form a significant part of this process.
After Easter, Year 11 & 13 students will complete exam board assessments to give them the opportunity to show their teachers their current levels of knowledge. This is designed to give students a chance to provide valid evidence of their current progress and should be seen as a positive opportunity for them to shine. These assessments will be set using exam board questions, referenced to national grade descriptors and standardised internally. These procedures are likely to be part of the nationally recommended process for internal quality assurance and open to external verification.
The rationale for using these assessments is below:
- The Ofqual guidance includes ‘student work produced in response to assessment materials provided by the exam board’ as the first example of acceptable evidence and we feel it is important to use these.
- It also states that ‘more recent evidence is more likely to be representative of student performance’ and we believe it is important to complete these assessments at the end of the course.
- Finally, the guidance states that grades ‘should reflect the standard at which the student is performing now, not their potential’. Completing exam board material, at the end of the course, should give all students the best opportunity to show us the standard at which they are performing at now as stated above.
- Students should try not to worry unduly about these assessments, they are not the only piece of evidence that we are able to use and the submitted grades will not solely be based on these.
Student timeline for process
8th March – 1st April 2021 Before Easter
- Students will finish their exam courses in all subjects.
- This is likely to include planned class-based assessments that would usually be completed.
- Students will be prepared for these as they usually would do and are encouraged to maintain high levels of effort and focus to ensure they perform to the best of their ability.
- As mentioned in the general guidance document, we are able to use a wide range of evidence and so these could be important.
- Subject teachers will provide guidance on the range and nature of exam-board provided assessments that will be completed after the Easter holidays.
- Students will be supported in preparing for these assessments both within the classroom and during home-based learning.
19th April – 28th May 2021 Easter – May half term
- Students will complete the type of review and revision tasks that would usually be completed at the end of an examination course.
- They will also complete assessments using exam-board provided materials which will be based on a range of topics covered during the course. This will not include topics which have not been covered or those where the delivery was compromised in any way.
- The exact procedures for these assessments with regard to location/timings etc will be communicated as soon as we are able to
We are now in a position to update you further on our arrangements for the exam-board assessments taking place after Easter. These assessments should not be viewed as alternatives to final exams or an additional trial exam. They will be planned by subjects as an additional piece of assessment evidence which will focus on a selected range of topic areas which have been covered during the course. As previously explained, Ofqual have provided a number of points within their guidance which has led to us deciding that completing these assessments will be advantageous to students and to how our process is viewed when facing external quality assurance.
The points below are a reminder of these factors:
- The Ofqual guidance includes ‘student work produced in response to assessment materials provided by the exam board’ as the first example of acceptable evidence and we feel it is important to use these.
- It also states that ‘more recent evidence is more likely to be representative of student performance’ and we believe it is important to complete these assessments at the end of the course.
- Finally, the guidance states that grades ‘should reflect the standard at which the student is performing now, not their potential’. Completing exam board material, at the end of the course, should give all students the best opportunity to show us the standard at which they are performing at now as stated above.
Students should view these assessments as an opportunity to show themselves in their best light.
Assessment timings / arrangements
The assessments will take place from 4th – 21st May. This 3-week period will allow us to organise them in a suitable manner within the Covid-linked restrictions we currently face.
Assessments will be planned into a formal timetable across these 3 weeks which will be published after Easter.
Year 11 will attend school as usual for this period.
Assessments will all last 75 minutes and each subject will have one paper.
When students are not completing assessments, they will attend regular timetabled lessons but will be allowed to complete independent revision.
Assessments will be completed in classrooms using desk dividers to increase privacy.
Assessments will be supervised by our regular invigilation team working as closely to JCQ exam regulations as possible
These arrangements are designed to maximise the validity and fairness of the process.
Year 13 will be able to attend school just for their assessments. They will be allowed to stay at home to complete independent revision during those times when they do not have an assessment. This is in line with the current arrangements for when they do not have lessons.
Students studying vocational courses, i.e. BTEC, will be in lessons as usual. It is vital that these students finish their internally assessed units in order for staff to create a fair and accurate grade.
BTEC Applied Science and ICT feel that their students need to complete an assessment to support their evidence. This is not required in other BTEC subjects.
If BTEC students also study A level subjects, they should communicate directly with their BTEC teachers regarding the lessons they may miss for preparation and the assessment.
Assessments will last between 90 and 120 minutes and as such will take place during an AM and PM session rather than regular lesson times.
Assessments will be completed in classrooms using desk dividers to increase privacy if required.
Assessments will be supervised by our regular invigilation team working as closely to JCQ exam regulations as possible
These arrangements are designed to maximise the validity and fairness of the process.
Assessment content
Each assessment will contain questions using a specified range of content.
This is designed to allow students to focus their preparation on these topics and not on areas which will not be assessed.
Each department has decided on these topic areas and we are in a position to share these with students now to aid their preparation.
Exam boards will not be releasing their assessment materials until on or after 29th March following which final assessments will be planned. These will include a range of different questions types in line with a regular exam.
This is designed to allow access to the full range of grades as specified in the Ofqual guidance.
Exam boards will also release grade descriptors in order to promote consistency between schools across the country. This is another reason why we have chosen to complete these assessments.
The ‘Exam-board Assessment’ content documents can be viewed on the links below. Students should ask their subject teachers if they have any queries at this point.
A level Exam Board Assessments
Next steps
This half term:
Subject teachers will complete their formal teaching. This may also include summative assessments as their courses usually would do.
Students can start to prepare for the exam board assessments referencing the topic lists provided above. This will also mean they are able to utilise the Easter holidays for this purpose.
19th – 30th April
During the first 2 weeks after Easter, students will follow their existing timetable. This will allow them to attend all of the lessons they would have in our current 2-week timetable.
These lessons can be utilised to prepare for the assessments and finish off curriculum teaching where required.
4th – 21st May
Students will complete exam-board assessments as explained above.
Subject teachers will complete ‘teacher-assessed grades’ alongside our internal quality assurance process.
Subject teachers, Curriculum Area Leaders and SLT will complete our internal quality assurance process.
Details of this TAG and internal QA process can be seen in the specific article which is also on the link below:
At this moment in time, we have not finalised the exact timetable of these assessments; this will be published after Easter.