Y11 Term 3 Programme & Examinations

Dear Y11 Students, Parents and Guardians,

I hope this email finds you well.

Thank you for your patience and support as we work to ensure examination boards have the best information we can give them to confirm grades and to prepare new courses for the remainder of this term.

At STC, Y11 teachers are focusing their efforts on supporting students by rigorously analysing assessment data to best fulfil the requirements needed by examination bards to award grades for June 2020. We are collaborating both within subject areas, and across the curriculum to ensure best practice, and where possible, a standardised approach. We have purposefully been given time by the examination boards to complete this task in order to ensure the integrity of the grades we submit. This is of utmost importance to us, and no doubt to our STC community. Our focus therefore is on this process.

Moving Forward: Y11 Term 3 Programme

The above task is well underway and we are now able to move forward and look to a programme of study that will enable our Y11 students to prepare for the next stage in their academic journey  – The IB Diploma or Careers-related Diploma. We are currently constructing an interesting and diverse opportunity for STC Y11 students to gain a good working knowledge of the demands of Y12, and further explore their chosen subjects, the IBDP Core and life as an IB Student. What I have learnt in my first 8 months at STC is our teachers are dedicated to delivering the very best learning opportunities for students, and for this programme to be well received and a valuable learning experience, we must give our teachers time to plan and collaborate. All Y11 students are expected to participate in these opportunities.

Y11 Term 3 Timeline

Awarding of I/GCSE Grades June 2020

All information contained here has been taken from material available in the public domain of individual examination boards and OFQUAL UK. Some of you may not be aware of the following:

• IGCSE and GCSE courses are offered by 7 different examination boards in the United Kingdom.
• The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofqual
• STC offers courses from the following examination boards:
  • AQA  https://www.aqa.org.uk/)
  • CAIE  https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/
  • PEARSONS/EDEXCEL https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/home.html

Courses are chosen to engage, challenge and enhance the learning of STC students. You can take a look at the websites for each examination board for details. On each of these websites you will also find information about processes related to awarding of grades for June 2020. You will also find information on the Ofqual website above.

How will grades be calculated?

STC will be asked to send exam boards two pieces of information for each of your subjects, based on what we know about your work and achievements:

• the grade we believe you were most likely to get if teaching, learning and exams had happened as planned
• within each subject, the order of students at STC, by performance, for each grade; this information will be used to standardise judgements – allowing fine tuning of the standard applied across schools and colleges

STC 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 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 making those judgements. That means the final grade you get could be different from the one STC sends to the exam board.

Do students need to complete any new work for STC to submit a grade?

STC will not set additional assessments 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 STC began online learning.

Can I see the grades that STC submits for me?

No, this information will be confidential. Please don’t ask your teachers, or anyone, to tell you the grades we will be sending to the exam boards or where we have placed you in the order of students; we are not allowed to share this with you.

When will I get my results?

Exam boards are working hard to get results out as soon as 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?

Exam boards are working to offer additional exams in the autumn term – these are being confirmed now. We’ll let you know about these in the coming weeks.

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.

Examination Fees

In regard to examination fees, we kindly ask that you submit payment. One of the tasks of the examination boards is to protect against some schools who may attempt to inflate grades. This would be detrimental to candidates who sat exams in other years and candidates in other centres worldwide. There is therefore a large and extensive moderation exercise which is continuing throughout April – July. At the moment the work of the examination board is greater than in previous years. Some examination boards are looking at the possibility of refunding part of the fee but candidates have to be entered to be considered for final grading. When we have confirmation from the boards about changes to fees we will be able to make refunds directly to you.

If you have any questions about this, or any curriculum related matters, please do to hesitate in contacting me.

Once again, I wish to thank you for your patience and support as we work to ensure examination boards have the best information we can give them to confirm grades and to prepare new courses for the remainder of this term.

Best regards,

Kellie Fagan
Vice Principal