Further information is available on this page with links for subjects.

Here are links to the main exam boards:

AQA
OCR
Edexcel (Pearson)
WJEC

Full Links:

http://www.aqa.org.uk/

http://www.ocr.org.uk/

http://qualifications.pearson.com/

http://www.wjec.co.uk/

https://he-exams.fandom.com/wiki/Summer_22_Exam_Changes

All mums? – by a Home Educating Dad

(part 1 of the Dad Blog is HERE)

(part 2 of the Dad Blog is HERE)

Despite our initial reservations, our adventure in Home Education turned out to be a fantastic success. That is once we had realised that there isn’t a template to follow, there is no right or wrong way of doing it (however there is a good and a bad way!). You are responsible for your child’s education, and are therefore free to choose the path you take.

We didn’t tell our children of the visit, we had nothing to hide so they could answer any questions in their own words. The LEA Officer met with us all and was impressed with the environment we had created. She spoke to our children and we showed her our project plan for the children’s education. At the end of the meeting, she confirmed that there was no need to have any further contact with her for a year. In fact, for the next and further years we simply sent her the updated project plan and samples of the children’s work and she was happy to leave us alone. Apart from the yearly emails thanking us, we never heard from the LEA again.

I must add a disclaimer here dear reader, deciding your Home Education route is personal to yourselves and I take no responsibility for your contact with your own LEA.

My wife joined many HE groups and took our children to many HE outings and events. This was pre-Covid and there were a lot of great outings where they met other Home Educating families. A fun time was had by all and I joined in on the few days I could get off work. One thing I did notice was that the majority of events were attended with mums and their children, which on the occasions I attended without my wife, I did find a little intimidating. Don’t get me wrong, I was made most welcome but being the only Home Educating dad in a room of mums who regularly meet to chat did make me feel a little out of place and unsure of myself.

Then, someone with great foresight, created a group HE activity run on the weekends and arranged by dads. Brilliant, we created flashing LED spacecraft out of old electric junk and cooked dinner from ingredients we had foraged. The children had a great time, the dads got to talk to each other about Home Education and I came away with the confidence to hold my own in any future mum centric outings.

I started this episode of the Dad Blog saying that there is no fixed template for how to Home Educate, well there is also no Home Educator ‘type’. I have met Home Edders from all walks of life, farmers, psychologists, many unemployed, teachers, ex-teachers, University Lecturers, actors, the list is endless.

What I discovered from all this variety, is that everyone educated their children in different ways and you can customise your own curriculum to how your child learns best. So for my son, whose style is academic, we taught differently to my daughter who is artistic. We made learning fun, we taught the core English, Maths and Science subjects but if they got bored we simply got out their project on Egyptians or the moon landings.

I really enjoyed teaching them and learned a lot myself.

Home Educating Dad

Next Blog – A life changing event

Here are links to the main exam boards:

AQA
OCR
Edexcel (Pearson)
WJEC

Exam past papers full links:

http://www.aqa.org.uk/

http://www.ocr.org.uk/

http://qualifications.pearson.com/

http://www.wjec.co.uk/

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/16th-december-2021_2021-12-16T121426.537998.html

Exam rules full links:

https://www.jcq.org.uk/summer-2022-arrangements/

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Private_Candidates_FAQs_Summer_2022_v2.pdf

PDF document available click here.

Exam FAQ for Home Educators full link:

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Private_Candidates_FAQs_Summer_2022_v2.pdf

Practical science laboratory A level access for Home Educators

Laboratory A level access for Home Educators

(Exams are not undertaken at these labs – CPAC only)

• Birmingham Science Lab
• Bolton School Science Lab
• Harrow Science Lab
• Sheffield Science Lab
• London South Bank UTC Science Lab

Information for GCSE & A-Level Exams

Information for GCSE & A-Level Exams SOURCES (full URL)

YouTube video link: https://youtu.be/xQc9RdRtCsU

IGCSE Contingency plans in case exams are cancelled

What are the contingency arrangements for international qualifications?

Quote from the page

Exams will take place in 2022 for International GCSE, International AS/A level, iPrimary and iLowerSecondary, but in the unlikely event that exams cannot take place in some jurisdictions again because of the pandemic, we are now able to confirm that in the exceptional circumstance that exams cannot go ahead in your country in summer 2022, students’ grades would instead be determined by using an evidence-based approach which would then be marked and graded by us.  Centres would have to submit at least one set of past papers as part of the portfolio.

Detailed information on how grades would be determined in summer 2022 will only be published if exams are cancelled. At that point, we would take account of the timing of the decision, the reason for the decision and any public health restrictions in place in specific international regions at the time, as well as lessons learned from the 2021 arrangements, and would provide further guidance to centres. In the meantime, teachers should teach and assess their students as they would throughout the year, in line with the guidance below, to gather the evidence they would use to determine grades, in case they are needed.

What are the arrangements for private candidates?

Quote from FAQ’s

In normal years, when exams take place, private candidates register with a centre which arranges for the candidate to take their exams alongside the centre’s students. As we expect exams to take place in 2022, centres are encouraged to allow private candidates to register with them in the usual way. 

Some private candidates might want centres to assess them throughout the year, alongside the centres’ students, in line with the DfE and Ofqual guidance. Centres may agree to do so, although they would need to make sure the assessments only covered content the private candidate had studied. Alternatively, private candidates could be assessed only if exams are cancelled, in which case they would be assessed in a compressed period.   

If exams are cancelled, the Department for Education would again explore ways to encourage centres to work with private candidates and to provide affordable opportunities for private candidates to work with centres. 

IGCSE Contingency plans in case exams are cancelled SOURCES (full URL)

Pearson Summer 2022 support https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/campaigns/summer-2022-support.html

Frequently Asked Questions where there is lots of information https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/campaigns/summer-2022-support/frequently-asked-questions.html

FAQ for Private Candidates

The FAQ are in a pdf document which will open in a new tab if you click HERE

The Private Candidates FAQ start in section 3 which is on page 3.

FAQ for Private Candidates Source (full URL):

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/JCQ-Summer-2022-FAQs.pdf

Ofqual announcement for Private Candidates

There is a group of Home Educators who have worked really hard behind the scenes to put across Private Candidates situation to Ofqual and explain the issues we faced. The association’s name is “The Home Educators’ Qualifications Association”, known as HEQA. You can read more about what they have been doing and have been able to achieve on THIS LINK

You can also read the full consultation details on THIS LINK

Ofqual announcement for Private Candidates SOURCES (full URL)

Open letter to Private Candidates from Ofqal https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-letters-arrangements-for-gcses-as-and-a-levels-in-2022/letter-to-private-candidates

Consultation outcome overview https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/contingency-arrangements-gcse-as-a-level-project-and-aea

2022 summer exams

2022 summer exams press release:

www.gov.uk/government/news/adaptations-in-2022-summer-examsto-ensure-fairness-for-students

2022 summer exams adaptations:

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-the-assessment-of-gcses-as-and-a-levels-in-2022

2022 summer exams contingency arrangements:

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/contingency-arrangements-gcse-as-a-level-project-and-aea

Are BTECs to be scrapped?

Are BTECs to be scrapped sources:

The Guardian – The former Conservative education secretary Kenneth Baker has described the government’s overhaul of vocational and technical qualifications at schools and colleges in England as “an act of vandalism”.

BBC – BTec qualifications should not be scrapped in England, say groups representing students and staff in schools, colleges and universities.

Home Education Register – Education Committee Third Report

Home Education Register THIRD REPORT

PDF Available Here Link to House of Commons Education Committee Strengthening Home Education Paper

PDF Actual Link https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/6974/documents/72808/default/

Home Education Register FURTHER READING

UK Parliament Website https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/203/education-committee/publications/

Exceptional Autumn Series Exam Dates

Exam Dates

Home Education Register?

Thousands more children being home-schooled in wake of pandemic as Education Secretary Gavin Williamson promises register.

A register of home educated children will be introduced “imminently” the education secretary said on Wednesday.

Speaking to MPs on the education committee, Gavin Williamson said he is “absolutely committed” to creating a register of home educated children and its introduction is “imminent”.

At the moment nobody knows exactly how many children are being educated at home. Committee chair Robert Halfon said the most reliable estimate for England is 75,000, but he said the actual rate could be higher because many local authorities are not confident they know all of the children who are being home educated in their areas.

During the pandemic many more children were taken out of school to be home educated. Mr Halfon said around 20,000 children moved to home education during this time.

Speaking about the register, Mr Williamson said: “it is imminent as to when this will be brought forward. It is incredibly important to ensure that there is that accountability and that monitoring.”

Asked by Mr Halfon if it will be before the summer recess, he said: “It is very very imminent…you are trying to spoil grids here Rob….our commitment to bringing this forward is absolutely clear.”

Mr Williamson said there are no immediate plans to bring in standardisation or assessments for home educated children.

He said: “The quality of home education is incredibly high right across the board….there are a lot of parents who put an awful lot of time effort and resource into it,. The first key step is establishing this register that’s what we will be doing very, very shortly.”

Home Education Register Source:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/thousands-more-children-being-home-141849273.html

T&E Exam Centres Announcement EXAM Special Access

This latest announcement from T&E states, Quote: “If a candidate requires any form of testing or service to qualify for additional support in their exams, it will come at no cost to the candidate.”

Here is the full statement regarding EXAM Special Access.

Free at Point of Delivery Access Arrangements Tutors & Exams is the leading independent private candidate exam centre across the UK. We have unrivalled access to qualifications for all candidates working outside of mainstream education. We have a dedicated team that solely works with candidates with Special Educational Needs as well as a dedicated “NEA’ (Non-Examined Assessment and Coursework) Team and two Exam professionals in each of our five, soon to be six, centres. To celebrate Learning Disability Week and open up our services to more candidates, Tutors & Exams is, with immediate effect, offering Free at Point of Delivery Access Arrangements. This is a huge step in ensuring all candidates outside of mainstream education are able to have the same access to assessments. Tutors & Exams have been working hard towards this since opening in 2014. However, due to costs constraints, this was unachievable until now. In 2020/21 academic year, Tutors & Exams halved its fees for access arrangements which was well received and welcomed by the Private Candidate Community. Free at Point of Delivery Access Arrangements means just that. If a candidate requires any form of testing or service to qualify for additional support in their exams, it will come at no cost to the candidate. The testing is that to fulfil the requirements of the JCQ and Awarding Organisations (typically Form 8 and Form 1 testing) to ensure we have sufficient evidence for them to grant the Access Arrangements. Therefore, if you required testing, mocks to show normal way of working, reader, laptop or any other Access Arrangements provision during your exams, you will pay no more than the prevailing examination entry fee detailed on our website. Terms and conditions do apply and you can find out more by contacting our team and selecting Access Arrangements. Group Managing Director, Jenny Spraggett has said “Since Tutors & Exams was established, we have been committed to ensuring that all Private Candidates receive a service as close to that in a mainstream facility as possible. As a private organisation that receives no funding, this has always been challenging. Being fiscally responsible we are now in a position to offer Free at Point of Delivery Access Arrangements and support more candidates, at no additional cost, with a range of Special Educational Needs. When we halved our fees for Access Arrangements in 2020, the feedback was astounding. We have no doubt that this will now be a ‘game changer’”

Where do we start? – by a Home Educating Dad

(part 1 of the Dad Blog is HERE)
(part 3 of the Dad Blog is HERE)

The first day we started Home Educating was a strange one.

08:00 am It started with no uniform. That’s right, you do not have to wear a uniform anymore while learning, have your breakfast.

09:00 am Okay what to do next, let’s not rush into anything and take it all a small step at a time.

09:10 am Right let’s look at the Curriculum and get going from there, Maths, I like Maths so it will be a good place to start.

09:30 am This is going well.

10:00 am You want a break, yes good idea, I need a break as well.

10:20 am WHAT HAVE I DONE? I’ve just wasted 20 minutes of his education. He will never pass Maths IGCSE, we have to catch up NOW!

10:40 am I’m sorry, yes you are not ready for quadratic equations at age 6. Let’s go back to what we learned this morning.

11:00 am IS THAT ALL WE’VE DONE?? It’s been 2 hours since we started. We will have to skip lunch to catch up!

This roller coaster continued, perhaps it was time for sensible wife to plan the lessons…… What? You don’t know what to do either?

So the first week was dealt with a little trepidation, fear, anxiety, and concern that we were not capable of providing an adequate education for our son. So my wife and I sat down and had a good long chat about how we wanted to proceed.

What were our goals? We started with why we took our son out of School; we had concerns that his time was being wasted and his ability was not being fully capitalised. Okay, we can deal with that; he’s way past Biff and Chip books so anything we teach him at a higher level is an improvement on the School.

What can we learn from our own experiences of School and use to help us? I recanted a story from my School years. I did O level Chemistry, two years trying to learn chemical formulas and the only practical was putting them into a test tube together and watching a litmus paper turn a different colour. I passed (just) but found it so boring. Then on our last day our Teacher said he would show us some fun things. We saw the metal Lithium dance on water and catch fire, a beaker of clear liquid turn instantly dark, oxygen banged, things smoked and foam expanded enormously – why did he leave it to our last day to show us that Chemistry is fun?! 

So we decided anything we teach our son must be fun. Yes Algebra may not be everyone’s idea of fun and has to be learned, but we can break it down into small blocks with learning a new Dinosaur in between. If our son got bored with learning one subject, we simply moved on to another.

Another thing we realised is that passing SATS is not for your child’s education (even with all the effort they put in). SATS are used as a measure of the efficiency of the School. Therefore your child is taught how to pass a SAT exam, the School will concentrate on this to get a good mark – for them! Anything outside the realm of a SAT will not be given priority and once the SAT level is achieved for your child, they will move on to those who have not; leaving your child waiting for others to catch up.

There are no such limitations with Home Education, the sky is not the limit! (as we found out when studying Voyager 1 space probe).

We this is going really well, let’s not even bother registering our younger daughter for school.

To be continued….

A Home Educating Dad

Exams update from T&E (Tutors and Exams) – The exam deadline to apply is now 1st April 2021

“Given the unprecedented demand of applications for Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs) and the lack of clarity at this late stage from stakeholders (DfE, Ofqual and Awarding Organisations) regarding the process for grading private candidates, we are suspending entry applications from 23:59, Thursday 1st April 2021. This will allow us time to process entries already received and determine, and put into place, the process by which candidates will be awarded TAGs.

In light of this announcement, and to avoid any disappointment, we strongly advise you to make any entries you were planning to submit via Tutors & Exams without delay. Rest assured we will not be imposing any late entry fees (with the exception of CAIE examinations), despite some Awarding Organisations planning to charge late fees for any entries submitted to them after 21st March. However, we do require payment for any entries you have made with Tutors & Exams by no later than 23:59, 8th April 2021. Please note that failure to make full and final payment by this date will likely result in your entry not being made with the Awarding Organisation and consequently no TAG will be issued.

We hope this statement provides some clarity for you and will keep this decision under review as more information is released by stakeholders.”

Debbie

Pearson update on IGCSE Exams

Pearson update on IGCSE Exam Unseen Test

Unseen test materials for International GCSE and International AS/AS Level

One of the forms of evidence that will be made available is the optional use of unseen test materials. We will send unseen test materials to all centres – teachers and students will be familiar with the style of the materials as they will look like question papers used in a normal exam series. The materials will need to be kept securely, until a specified date, and we’ll provide details of what you’ll need to do in due course – it will be very similar to how you typically deal with exam materials.

These test materials can then be used in two ways; firstly, as unseen materials presented to students in a controlled situation, in a specified timeframe, for them to respond to; or secondly, after the specified timeframe, in the knowledge that they may be familiar to students, used as one part of the evidence that supports the teacher grade – we’ll provide more detail on each of these options in the coming weeks.

To support the use of these unseen materials we’ll be offering an optional marking service where our expert examiners will mark your student responses. We’ll mark the test materials and return a mark to you for your consideration when deriving the student grade. We’ll provide you with support to understand how the mark aligns with performance descriptors so that you can be confident in your understanding of the mark. This will be an optional service and, if you’d prefer to mark the materials yourself, we’ll be providing mark schemes and training materials so that you can do so with confidence.

The approach for this series will be underpinned by a quality assurance process that focuses on helping you to make judgements, based on evidence, that are objective and consistent. There will be several different stages, and we’ll provide an update as soon as we can, but we’re committed to ensuring that it’s supportive and not overly burdensome.

Private Candidates

The DfE is currently exploring ways to make sure there are affordable opportunities for private candidates to work with centres, and to encourage centres to work with private candidates. Once the DfE has completed its review, we will be working with other awarding organisations to provide a list of centres offering to support private candidates through the assessment process, including details of the subjects they can offer. We expect this list to be available before the end of March.

We can assure private candidates that they will not need to pay higher entry fees if, as a result of this, they need to make their entry after the extended entry deadline.

We will also be providing further information for centres on how best to support private candidates, including guidance on the selection of assessment evidence. This will be available at the end of March.

Approach for International GCSE and International AS/A Level (May/June 2021 series)

To ensure fairness for all students around the world, we want to ensure parity with our UK qualifications and so will align the evidence-based approach for international qualifications with the approach for UK qualifications, as far as it is sensible to do so.

We also recognise that there are a range of circumstances faced by international schools and we’re committed to providing assessment materials, services, support and guidance to ensure that you can proceed with confidence.

Student grades will be derived by teachers and centres, with support throughout from Pearson. With our support, it will be possible to use a variety of evidence to inform the grade that will be submitted to Pearson.

We want to ensure that you have access to assessment materials that will enable objective and fair judgements to be made about student performance; we’ve also heard from you that you want us to support you in translating evidence-based judgements into grades.

Pearson Source:

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/campaigns/summer-2021-exam-support.html

Government Announcement on 2021 UK Exams

Home Educated children did not stop learning or studying because of lockdown! For example AWE Home Ed went online right at the start of the first lockdown with students not even missing one single lesson for their UK Exams. We have not stopped teaching and our students have not stopped learning.

I hope our students exam grades will not be marked down when compared against school children who may have not been so prepared for self study and working at home.

I believe Home Educated children are actually at an advantage as learning at home and taking responsibility for their own learning are skills they will already have.

Our teachers and many parents have been able to accelerate through the syllabus to try to ensure the whole syllabus has been covered earlier in preparation for whatever scheme comes out of the consultation. Many Home Educated children will not have big chunks of the syllabus not covered. Many Home Ed teachers and tutors have been steadily gathering evidence during lessons and with homework so it should be easier than last year for parents to provide portfolio’s of evidence if required by exam centres and for teachers to give predicted grades if qualified to do so.

Just my thoughts!

09:50

UK Exams update for Private Candidates

My advice is don’t take too much notice of all the speculation, opinions and thoughts that are being aired everywhere. The good news is that Private Candidates will have a way to be graded, we have not been forgotten. It sounds like there will be flexibility and options available to make it fair.

Exams centres will be extremely busy and will probably not have all the answers you will be looking for yet. I would just be patient and wait for a few days until there is more detail and your exam centre has had the time to make a plan for Private Candidates.

09:20

Regarding private Candidates

I will keep updating this blog as news comes out with more details.

It’s probably not a good idea to contact your exam centre yet. They will be very busy! Wait a couple of days until they have time to tell us what they will be able to arrange for our children sitting as Private Candidates.

08:00am

Boris Johnson announced today by Tweet that Teachers will be assessing grades for students. There is a Government press release with some detail which does mention private candidates, quoted here:

There will also be a clear and accessible route for private candidates to work with a centre to receive a grade this year, at the same time as other candidates. Exam boards will provide centres with clear guidance on the evidence they can use to assess a private candidate. A list of available centres will be published shortly and, we are working with the sector to ensure there are sufficient centres available and at a similar cost to a normal year.

More detail to follow as it is released.

You want to do what? – by a Home Educating Dad

When my wife came up with the idea of Home Educating my son, I thought she was mad. I was taught from a young age that to get an education you go to school, then College, if you were fortunate University. This ‘Home Education’ thing didn’t fit within that template and what on earth was Home Education anyway?

The Head admitted that they had no procedure for this situation other than suggesting an after school chess club. Trouble was they didn’t have anyone to run it and would I be interested? We persevered and it worked, our son was duly put up into the next Year 1 for his Maths and English lessons – excellent!

Then came a strange decision which demonstrates the ridiculous bureaucracy of the school system. Our son was reading science books and learning about the world using a daily news item from the Times. However, in order to be allowed to go up to the next year for English, he had to have read the full years Biff and Chip books in his own time at night. This was so they could “tick a box that he had completed them” – a literal quote.

He did very well in his advanced year lessons and all was well, he was happy, we were happy. Then came the end of reception and he was moved up to Year 1. His form tutor changed so we went to see her to ensure that as he had already completed Year 1 of English and Maths, he would be put into Year 2 for those lessons. Unlike his previous tutor who was open to suggestions, this lady had an ‘old school’ mentality and said in no uncertain terms that the previous agreement was not going to be honored and she would have to reassess his abilities right from the start – months of our negotiations were gone in an instant.

So what to do? Well my wife had investigated Home Education and thought it to be a really good idea. Our son was a keen learner and we felt he was wasting his valuable early years. The most difficult part for her was to convince me that we were capable of taking on the enormous responsibility of educating our son and that we could do it on my single income.

She’s a clever thing my wife and she made me think I was in charge, while all the time having made the decision herself. So how to do that? well she said we could give it a go and when things get difficult at secondary school level we will just send him back to school. Okay then, that’s not such a big step, I agree.

We checked the legality of taking him out of the school system, calculated the reduced income and our outgoings, told all of the family (some really weird looks there, how will he get friends and socialise??) and booked a meeting with the same Head of the school to tell her of our decision.

So this time we sat in front of her, not to tell her how to do her job like last time, but to say she wasn’t doing it well enough and we were off! Well we didn’t say it quite like that, but when we explained why she totally agreed with our decision, as did his reception teacher. Perhaps we were doing the right thing then!

So, that’s it then. We are off, brilliant.

Arrrrggghhhhh….. What now!?

A Home Educating Dad

(part 2 of the Dad Blog is HERE)

Cancelled Exams Update 8th February 2021

Here’s an update from Tutors and Exams regarding Private Candidates.

Summer 2021 Exams Updates

What another extraordinary week for Summer 2021 Exams Updates! We have seen the cancellation of Pearson Edexcel International Qualifications across the world in addition to Cambridge Assessment International Education stating that they are looking at alternative arrangements to exams in the UK.

 

Are there anymore Summer 2021 Exams Updates? Yes there is. Ofqual have announce (via Twitter) that the outcomes of the joint DfE/Ofqual Consultation will be released week commencing 22nd February 2021. What does this mean for us? It means that we have to wait up to three weeks before we can give you any sort of detail around grading for Private Candidates. We do appreciate that this can add to already heightened emotions and we have passed on our concerns to the DfE and Ofqual. However, we can report that we have had two incredibly productive meetings with both parties, and other stakeholders, to look at the implications of exam cancellations and the possible solutions on Private Candidates.

 

You will all no doubt be asking why the consultation outcome is due to be announced post Awarding Body Deadline dates? Well, the response is quite straightforward. The consultation received over 100,000 responses. The DfE and Ofqual want to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard and will be looking in depth to the responses. They have asked all the Awarding Bodies to “be flexible” with their entry deadline dates. As such, Pearson Edexcel and OCR have confirmed to us that their deadline for Private Candidate entries has been extended. We are pleased to confirm that we have extended our entry deadline to the 1st March 2021 to give the opportunity to make an informed decision. However, we must make it clear that if you don’t have an entry with an exam centre, you will not be able to get any kind of grade.

 

Tutors and Exams are actively engaged with the Awarding Bodies, DfE and Ofqual to ensure that a robust and fair process is available to Private Candidates. We will have further Summer 2021 Exams updates very soon.

 

To ensure you are in the best possible position for the release of the consultation outcomes; do not stop studying. Please continue with your studies as if exams were continuing.

Bad News I’m afraid.

Pearson have cancelled IGCSE’s for Summer 2021

My advice. Don’t withdraw entries or cancel exam bookings, if you do you won’t have any grade at all. Wait for the consultation results to find out what procedures will be available.

From the Pearson Website announcement:

Today, Wednesday 3 February 2021, we are confirming that will use a robust approach based on teacher assessment for International GCSE assessment in May/June 2021 and exams will not go ahead as planned. We will offer an additional exam series for International GCSE later this year.

Our priorities throughout this pandemic have been to keep everyone safe and well and to ensure fairness so that every student receives a grade that reflects their knowledge and understanding.

In making this decision, we have spoken to many schools, teachers and students and have carefully considered a range of options. These included having exams in some countries and teacher assessment in others. Given the ongoing uncertainty, we feel that this could not be done fairly and would risk unintentionally disadvantaging individual students.

You should continue to teach your students, and we will ensure that you are fully supported as we work through the next steps.

Additional exam series for International GCSE

In addition to confirming this approach for the May/June 2021 series, we also intend to make available an additional focused exam series for International GCSE later in the year. This will enable students who prefer to take exams to have the opportunity to do so. We will be consulting with you separately on this and are keen to hear your feedback.

Teacher assessed grades

For May/June 2021, we will use training, support and rigorous quality assurance procedures to ensure that grades are awarded fairly. This approach will be different to last year’s Centre Assessment Grades. As part of this, we are mindful of the needs of private candidates.

Ensuring that students can move on to the next stage of their education with confidence, and with the knowledge and skills to be successful, is of paramount importance. We want to ensure that all students have an opportunity to achieve a grade that reflects their knowledge and understanding and that is based on a rigorous and robust process.

Ensuring that all stakeholders have confidence in the outcomes of students, and that they are fair and consistent, is a key principle and we will be providing further details on this from early March.

Support for teacher assessed grading: our commitment to you

We know that you will be keen to understand more about how the teacher assessed grade will work. We are committed to providing schools with a comprehensive support package to complete teacher assessment.

To do this we will:

• Provide all information regarding teacher assessed grades and associated activities in our bi-weekly newsletter as an update for Heads of Centre, Heads of Department, Teachers and Exams Officers
• Share important news and updates on our website, social media channels and via the weekly Exams Officer Updates
• Publish detailed guidance at the very earliest opportunity on the process of submitting teacher assessed grades
• Produce user guides, videos and step-by-step instructions for any new processes and systems
• Deliver enhanced support and training to support you in making the best decisions
• Provide support to students, parents and carers to understand the processes being undertaken this year
• Share more on the standardisation of teacher assessed grades, arrangements for year 10 or private candidates and appeals, once we can after the outcome of the Ofqual consultation.

What is Home Education?

Put simply, Home Education is when parents or guardians decide to remove their child from, or not start their child in, a school education and take over the responsibility for their child’s education themselves.

“So can I remove my child from school and do nothing with them?”

No. Although there is no legislation that deals with Home Education as a specific approach, the Government states: “Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 states the parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable (a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and (b) to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.”

As a special note I want to make sure you know that from the very first day you take on the responsibility to Home Educate, your child must be learning full time. Some people will say you can ‘do nothing’ or de-school for a time but this is not acceptable should a Local Authority inspector ask you what your plan is. However, whatever you are doing with your child actually can be counted in some way as education, it doesn’t mean they have to be sat in front of a pile of books all day. If they help you cook a meal, that has many educational elements as well as life skills. If they help you do the food shopping that counts as an educational opportunity if you give them the chance to calculate the budget for example.

Your child will be learning all the time in one way or another, a suitable education does not mean just ‘book’ learning.

“Will I get funding?”

Unfortunately no, the Government is no longer financially responsible either so all costs must be met by the parents. The parents must commit to ensuring their child receives a full time education that results in the child making progress appropriate for their age and ability taking into account any special educational needs.

The link below takes you to the UK Government’s Department for Education guidance document that explains the law. Please don’t be daunted by the legal wording it is actually a very simple process that can be immensely rewarding and successful for both parent and child.

Government Website on What is Home Education?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

Why Home Educate?

There is no ‘one reason’ why parents/guardians decide to Home Educate, you will find people from all walks of life. each with their own reason. 

You are in control

For example, you may be a professional who wants your child to follow in your footsteps, or maybe, you think the school system does not devote enough time to Maths, or Chemistry, or Physical Education…
Whatever it is that you and your child want, with Home Education YOU are able to pick and choose what they learn. This could be in the format of tutors, online learning or you teaching them. However be aware, there may be no support from your Local Authority.

If your child is finding school stressful and is not coping

If your child is being bullied or has anxiety or stress at school and you have tried everything to solve the problem, Home Education may be a solution.

Why Home Educate? Why not!

How does Home Education work?

Debbie’s thoughts….

What worked for us….

I was aware of the need to ensure I covered the basics like Maths and English so we always had workbooks for those. We also did lots of online learning through numerous different educational websites and apps. By far the most successful one that we used for the longest time was ConquerMaths. It covers all the Maths needed for every age, my son even used it for some A level work. See the following link if you would like to buy an annual subscription for ConquerMaths with fantastic discount for Home Educators of 59% which is a great help, go HERE

I believe the key to successful Home Education for us has been to have lots of fun. To enjoy being together and learning important life skills like how to get along with each other and cooperate, be compassionate and respectful of other people’s needs.

My children have been very much involved in everything that goes on in our house. We always discuss and explain things that are happening. They understand about family finances, why we pay tax, how the UK Government works and why we vote. Basically everything we deal with, they are involved in to some extent. This has given them great general knowledge.

How does Home Education work? – It works REALLY well!