Examinations Policy SLT Owner: Simon Fisher Receiver: Teaching Staff Date: May 2018 Next Review: May 2019 1. AIM The purpose of this Examinations Policy is to ensure that: the planning and management of examinations is conducted efficiently and in the best interests of candidates the operation of the examinations system is efficient, with clear guidelines for all relevant staff everyone involved in the centre s examination processes reads, understands and implements this policy 2. EXAMINATION RESPONSIBILITIES 1.1 Head of Centre (Head Master) Exercises overall responsibility for the school as an examination centre. Is the source of advice on appeals. Has responsibility for reporting all suspicions or actual incidents of malpractice. 1.2 Examinations Officer Manages the administration of public and internal examinations in conjunction with Deputy Head (Academic) and the IB Co-ordinator and prepares materials to enable analysis of examination results. Advises the Senior Leadership Team, teaching staff, tutors and relevant support staff on examination timetables and application procedures as set by the examination boards. Oversees the production and distribution to staff and candidates of calendars for all examinations in which candidates will be involved and communicates regularly with staff concerning imminent deadlines and events. In conjunction with the Deputy Head (Academic) and the IB Co-ordinator, ensures that candidates and their parents are informed of and understand those aspects of the examination timetable that will affect them. Consults with teaching staff to ensure that necessary controlled assessment and coursework is completed on time and in accordance with JCQ guidelines. Maintains and develops systems and processes to support the timely entry of candidates for their examinations. Inputs data for relevant systems. Provides and confirms detailed data on estimated entries. Receives, checks and stores securely all examination papers and completed scripts. In conjunction with the Learning Support Department, administers access arrangements and makes applications for special consideration. Identifies and manages examination timetable clashes. Accounts for income and expenditure relating to all examination costs / charges. Organises the recruitment, training and monitoring of a team of external examinations invigilators as required. Timetables and monitors teaching staff for invigilation as required. Manages the conduct of examinations. Organises despatch of examination scripts. Submits candidates non-examined assessment marks, tracks despatch and stores returned non-examined assessment and any other material required by the appropriate awarding body correctly and on schedule. After 20th September, non-examined assessments from the summer series will be returned to departments for storage. Arranges for dissemination of examination results and certificates to candidates. Manages all procedures following on from GCE, International A Level, GCSE & IGCSE results, including appeals and re-marks. 1.3 Deputy Head (Academic) Manages Examinations Officer and IB Co-ordinator, and advises on all aspects of the examination procedure for IB, GCSE, IGCSE, GCE, International A level and Cambridge National exams and university entrance papers.
1.4 IB Co-ordinator Oversees and advises on all aspects of the examination procedure for IB, including Results and Enquiries about Results. 1.5 Heads of Department Provide guidance to candidates who are unsure about examination entries or amendments to entries. Ensure accurate completion of entries and all other mark sheets in accordance with deadlines as set by the Examinations Officer. Comply with awarding body regulations concerning non-examined assessment and speaking tests Co-ordinate any speaking tests Ensure all teaching staff involved with internal assessment of any kind are fully trained and aware of the regulations. Ensure accurate completion of non-examined assessment mark sheets and declaration sheets. Participate in post-results procedures. 1.6 Head of Learning Support Identifies and tests candidates requirements for access arrangements. Collates supporting evidence for candidates requirements Applies for access arrangements. 1.7 Invigilators Conduct invigilation in accordance with CIE, JCQ and IB instructions. Collect all examination papers in the correct order at the end of each examination and return them to the Examinations Officer. 1.8 Candidates Confirm and sign examination entries. Understand non-examined assessmentregulations and sign a declaration to authenticate non-examined assessments as their own. Abide by all regulations for the conduct of examinations published by CIE, JCQ and IB. 2. QUALIFICATIONS OFFERED The qualifications offered at this centre are decided by the Senior Leadership Team on advice of the Heads of Department. These currently comprise GCSE, IGCSE, Cambridge Nationals, GCE, International A level and IB. The subjects offered for these qualifications in any academic year may be found in the centre s published prospectus for that year. If there has been a change of syllabus from the previous year, the Examinations Officer must be informed by 30th September each year. 3. EXAMINATION SEASONS AND TIMETABLES 3.1 Examination Seasons Year 11 mock examinations are scheduled in November, Year 13 IB Diploma and Year 13 A level mock examinations are scheduled in February/March and other internal examinations take place in June. External examinations are scheduled in November, January and May/June. 3.2 Timetables The Examinations Officer will circulate the examination timetables for both external and internal examinations once these are confirmed. 4. ENTRIES, ENTRY DETAILS, LATE ENTRIES AND RETAKES 4.1 Entries Candidates are selected for their examination entries by the Heads of Department.
The centre may accept entries from external candidates, including former members of Year 13 returning for resits. In such circumstances, the school does not provide overnight accommodation for former pupils returning for retakes. An administration fee per session will be charged to returning pupils and invigilation may be charged if no internal pupils are sitting the examination 4.2 Late entries Entry deadlines are circulated to Heads of Department via email and notice board. Late entries are authorised by the Examinations Officer, in conjunction with the Deputy Head (Academic). 4.3 Retakes Retakes for GCE examinations are only available in the subsequent summer series. Retakes for IGCSE English Language are offered in the subsequent November series, and for IGCSE Mathematics in the subsequent January series. All retakes are paid for by the student or their parents. Retake decisions will be made in consultation with the candidates, Heads of Department and parents. 5. EXAMINATION FEES All examination fees are paid by the student or their parents. Late entry or amendment fees are paid by the student or department, according to circumstances. Candidates or departments will not be charged for changes of tier, withdrawals made by the proper procedures or alterations arising from administrative processes, provided these are made within the time allowed by the awarding bodies. 6. DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT (DDA): Special Needs and Access Arrangements 6.1 DDA The Disability Discrimination Act (2005) extends the application of the DDA to general qualifications. All examination centre staff must ensure that the access arrangements and special consideration regulations and guidance are consistent with the law. The school Equal Opportunities Policy provides further details of how the school complies with The Equality Act 2010. 6.2 Learning Support A candidate s Access Arrangements are determined by the Head of Learning Support in conjunction with independent reports complied by a doctor and /or educational psychologist / specialist teacher. The Examinations Officer will inform invigilators of any concessions etc. relating to specific pupils in a particular examination. 6.3 Access Arrangements Making Access Arrangements for candidates to take examinations is the responsibility of the Head of Learning Support. Once the Learning Support Department has completed its section of the paperwork, submitting completed Access Arrangement applications to the awarding bodies is the responsibility of the Head of Learning Support. Rooming for Access Arrangement candidates will be arranged by the Examinations Officer. Invigilation and support for Access Arrangement candidates will be organised by the Examinations Officer. 7. ESTIMATED GRADES Where required, Heads of Department will submit estimated grades to the Examinations Officer. 8. MANAGING INVIGILATORS AND EXAMINATION DAYS
8.1 Managing invigilators The recruitment and deployment of external invigilators is the responsibility of the Examinations Officer. Securing the necessary Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) clearance for new invigilators is the responsibility of the HR Department. DBS fees for securing such clearance are paid by the centre. Invigilators are timetabled and briefed by the Examinations Officer. Invigilators rates of pay are set by the HR Department. 8.2 Examination days The Examinations Officer books all examination rooms after liaison with other users and makes question papers, examination stationery and other materials available to invigilators. The Facilities Department is responsible for setting up the allocated rooms and all peripheral equipment (barriers, etc). The Examinations Officer is responsible for putting up the necessary signage. All examinations are started in accordance with CIE/JCQ/IB guidelines by either the Examinations Officer or an authorised member of staff. In practical examinations subject teachers should be on hand in case of any technical difficulties. Examination papers must not be removed from the examination room before the end of a session. Question papers will be distributed to Heads of Department 24 hours after the examination session. 9. CANDIDATES, CLASH CANDIDATES AND SPECIAL CONSIDERATION 9.1 Candidates The centre s published rules on acceptable dress, behaviour and use of mobile phones and all electronic devices apply at all times. Candidates are instructed not to bring any electronic devices to the examination room, including mobile phones and smart watches. In the event that any are inadvertently brought in, candidates MUST hand them to the invigilator before the start of the examination. Candidates personal belongings remain their own responsibility and the centre accepts no liability for their loss or damage. Disruptive candidates are dealt with in accordance with CIE/JCQ/IB guidelines. Candidates may leave the examination room for illness or toilet breaks, but must remain under supervision of an invigilator. The Examinations Officer will attempt to contact any candidate who is not present at the start of an examination and deal with them in accordance with CIE/JCQ/IB guidelines. 9.2 Clash Candidates The Examinations Officer is responsible as necessary for identifying escorts, locating a secure venue and arranging overnight stays. 9.3 Special Consideration Should a candidate be too ill to sit an examination, suffer bereavement or other trauma or be taken ill during the examination itself, it is the candidate s responsibility to alert the centre or the invigilator to that effect. Any special consideration claim must be supported by appropriate evidence within five days of the examination, for example, a letter from the candidate s doctor. The Examinations Officer will then forward a completed special consideration form to the relevant awarding body within seven days of the final examination in the series. 10. NON-EXAMINED ASSESSMENTS See Annex B for the Non-Examined Assessment Policy. 11. NON-EXAMINED ASSESSMENT AND APPEALS AGAINST INTERNAL ASSESSMENTS 11.1 Non-examined Assessment Candidates who have to prepare portfolios should do so by the end of the course or centre-defined date.
Marks for all internally assessed work are provided to the Examinations Officer by the subject teachers and the Heads of Department by the deadline given. Heads of Department will ensure all non-examined assessment, including EPQ, is ready for despatch at the correct time and the Examinations Officer will keep a record of what has been sent when and to whom. Extended Essay supervisors will ensure that work is passed to the IB Co-ordinator by the deadline, ready for upload or despatch. 11.2 Appeals against Non-examined Assessments See Annex A for the Appeals against Non-examined Assessment Policy. The main points are: Pupils will be given their marks for non-examined assessments, so that they can decide whether they wish to appeal. Appeals will only be entertained if they apply to the process leading to an assessment. There is no appeal against the mark or grade awarded. Candidates may appeal if they feel their non-examined assessment has been assessed unfairly, inconsistently or not in accordance with the specification for the qualification. Appeals should be made in writing to the Deputy Head (Academic) who will decide whether the process used conformed to the necessary requirements. The Deputy Head (Academic) s findings will be notified in writing, copied to the Examinations Officer and recorded for awarding body inspection. 12. RESULTS, ENQUIRIES ABOUT RESULTS (EARs) AND ACCESS TO SCRIPTS (ATS) 12.1 Results (I)GCSE and GCE candidates can access their results via the Pupil Portal on the appropriate days, and will receive individual results slips by post Results will appear on the School Portal if the appropriate authorisation is activated by the pupil IB Diploma candidates can access results online on the IB website with a PIN provided by the IB Coordinator. Any arrangements for the school to be open on results days are made by the Senior Leadership Team. The availability of staff on results days is in accordance with policy determined by the Senior Leadership Team. 12.2 EARs (Enquiries about Results) EARs may be requested by centre staff or candidates if there are reasonable grounds for believing there has been an error in marking. All EARs must be requested through the Examinations Officer. Any EAR requires the written permission of the candidate concerned and the Awarding Bodies make a charge for the service they provide. Any fee charged will be refunded if the appeal is upheld. 12.3 ATS (Access to Scripts) After the release of results, candidates may ask subject staff to request the return of scripts within the deadlines specified by the Examinations Officer. These may be priority photocopies or original scripts. Centre staff may also request scripts for investigation or for teaching purposes. For the latter, the consent of candidates must be obtained. Re-marks cannot be requested once an original script has been returned. 13. CERTIFICATES Certificates are sent directly to candidates home address by the centre using recorded delivery, if the candidate is not returning to Worth. The centre retains undelivered certificates for a minimum of three years. 14. EXTERNAL EXAMINATIONS APPEAL PROCEDURE 14.1 Head of Centre
The Head Master is the named point of accountability for the overall quality assurance, leadership and administration of examination qualifications. 14.2 Appeals There are two main types of appeal on marks awarded in examinations: An appeal made by a student or the school against a mark awarded by an Examination Board for an externally assessed piece of work (Centre Appeal) Should an individual student wish to make an appeal, it is advisable to seek the advice of the Head of Department for the subject concerned. Alternatively, the school may wish to make an appeal on behalf of one or more pupils. The individual student(s) concerned must give written authority for an appeal to go ahead. In either case, there is a separate appeals procedure detailed by the Examination Boards and reference should be made directly to the Examinations Officer and Deputy Head (Academic). Non-examined assessments have their own separate appeals procedure, as outlined in the Non-examined Assessment Policy.
ANNEX A Policy for Emergency Evacuation of Examinations 1. Introduction The aim of this policy is to ensure that all staff involved in the administration of public examinations are clear on the procedures to follow in the event of an actual or suspected emergency situation. 2. Procedure In the event of an emergency evacuation of a public examination, including in the event of a bomb threat (as per the Procedure for Handling Bomb Threats, published by the UK Government), the following procedure should be followed unless instructed otherwise by a senior member of staff. Assessing the situation: 1. On the sounding of the fire alarm, or lockdown alert, the invigilator is to stop the examination, note the time and collect the examination register/seating plan to take outside. 2. The invigilator will impress on candidates that there is to be no talking or any form of communication during the emergency. Any breach of these regulations will incur the gravest of penalties. The seriousness of the situation will be stressed and reassurance given that loss of time will be made up. 3. In the event of a fire alarm, the fire control panel is in the Sports Hall office; one invigilator should liaise with the member of maintenance staff as to whether evacuation is necessary. If evacuation is necessary: 1. Candidates should be dismissed at approximately 3 metre distances which must be maintained throughout the whole emergency. 2. The candidates will be asked to STAND and leave all papers on the desks. 3. Dismiss the candidates working from the row nearest to the door, leaving approximately a 3 metre distance between each which must be maintained throughout the whole emergency. 4. EXIT to the assembly area (hard ground behind the Sports Hall) where candidates should line up, keeping their distance and silence hard ground behind the Sports Hall 5. Take a Register to ensure that no candidates are missing. 6. The Examinations Officer or another senior member of staff will take charge in the assembly area as soon as possible. 7. On returning to the examination room, the invigilator should note the time at which the examination restarted and tell the candidates to rule a horizontal line across their scripts at the point where the work is to be resumed. 8. Candidates should be allowed the correct time for the examination and the examination will therefore finish later than scheduled to allow for the break. The revised finishing time should be posted in the examination room. 9. The Examinations Officer will make a full report of the incident and the action taken, and sent it to the relevant awarding body. In the event of a lockdown situation, the school s Lockdown Procedure will be followed.
ANNEX B GCSE, IGCSE, Cambridge Nationals, GCE & IB Diploma Qualifications Non-examined Assessment Policy 1. Non-examined assessment, including speaking tests, are an important and valuable part of many qualifications. In some cases non-examined assessments are externally assessed, just as timed examinations are. Often, however, non-examined assessments are internally assessed and then externally moderated. That means that teachers here assess the work first. A qualified person appointed by the awarding body then checks either a sample of the work or all the work, to make sure that the teachers have assessed it correctly. If the awarding body judges that a school has consistently marked work too generously, it can reduce the marks. Conversely, if it judges that a school has consistently been too harsh, it can raise the marks. In exceptional cases, the awarding body may re-mark all the work, if it judges that a school has acted erratically when marking non-examined assessments. 2. Worth School is committed to ensuring that: a) non-examined assessments of all types are conducted by staff who have the appropriate knowledge, understanding and skills; b) assessment evidence provided by candidates has been produced and authenticated according to the requirements of the relevant specification; c) consistency of non-examined assessments is secured through internal standardisation as necessary; and d) staff responsible for internal standardisation attend training sessions as appropriate. Partly because of this, the School has a good record in assessing non-examined work internally. The awarding bodies usually agree with the marks that we have awarded. 3. If a pupil has questions about how their non-examined assessment has been assessed, he/she should speak informally to their subject teacher, who will be able to explain what was good about the non-examined assessment, what could have been done better, and why the work received the mark that it did. In most cases, this explanation will be enough to allay any doubts that the pupil may have. However, if doubts persist, the Head of Department for the subject concerned should be contacted, if he or she is not the teacher concerned. Alternatively the Deputy Head (Academic) should be contacted. 4. If, having followed the process in paragraph 3, a pupil feels that teachers have not followed the correct procedures when assessing their non-examined assessment, an appeal can be made to the School as follows: a) The student must write a letter or e-mail to the Deputy Head (Academic). That letter must arrive within five days of the student receiving their internally assessed mark. The letter or e-mail must explain precisely which non-examined assessment is the subject of the appeal and in what way it is felt that teachers did not follow the correct procedures for internal assessment. b) It will normally be for the Deputy Head (Academic) to consider the appeal, although the IB Coordinator will also be present at appeals relating to IB Internal Assessment, Extended Essays and Theory of Knowledge essays. The Second Master will consider the appeal, if it relates to a pupil that the Deputy Head (Academic) teaches. Consideration will be given as to whether the procedures used for internal assessment met the published requirements of the awarding body and the Code of Practice of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. c) The Deputy Head (Academic) (or the Second Master) will write to the candidate,, to inform them of the outcome of the appeal. That outcome may include, where applicable: i. communications with the awarding body; and
ii. iii. steps taken to protect further the legitimate interests of the candidate or candidates more generally. The School will keep a written record of the appeal and its outcome and will make it available to the awarding body on request. 5. Appeals cannot be made to the School in the following circumstances: a) Dissatisfaction with the marks that teachers have given to non-examined assessments or with other judgements reached during internal assessment. The appeals process in paragraph 4 relates only to the procedures that were followed when assessing non-examined assessments. b) Dissatisfaction with the final mark that the awarding body gave for non-examined assessments. The awarding body not the School is responsible for that decision. The awarding bodies are prepared in some cases to re-moderate the original sample of centre-assessed non-examined assessments. The awarding bodies also make an appeals process available; the grounds for appeal must relate to the awarding body s procedures or the application of those procedures. The Examinations Appeals Board, an independent body set up by the Government, hears final appeals on GCSE, AS and A level examinations. 6. The School will retain non-examined assessments securely until all possibilities of an EAR are exhausted in the year after the publication of results by the awarding body. The School will then dispose securely of the non-examined assessments, unless the candidate has asked in writing for it to be returned to him or her. 7. Each September, the School s Examinations Officer will inform pupils in years 11-13 of the existence of this policy, a copy of which may be obtained from the Examinations Office.