Our Examination Officer is Rachael Liddiard – contact: r.liddiard@hayesfield.com
Our Examination Assistant is Sue Shaw – contact: s.shaw@hayesfield.com
The Exams Office is on the first floor of Upper Oldfield Park.
Changes to GCSEs, AS and A levels
The new specification AS levels which have no units, just components, will also have no A*. The Legacy A levels will still have A*s.
For further information about the changes to AS and A levels see the link below.
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/reform-campaigns/AQA-AS-A-LEVEL-DECOUPLING.PDF
GCSE 9-1 Grading
New GCSEs will be graded 9–1, rather than A*–G, with grade 5 considered a good pass and grade 9 being the highest and set above the current A*. The new system is intended to help provide more differentiation, especially among higher achieving students.
The grades will be given for the first time in 2017 exam results, for specifications that first started teaching in 2015. By 2019, all GCSE results will be using the new system.
Ofqual Consultation
The outcome of a consultation on setting the grade standards of new GCSEs in England for 2017 and 2018 was confirmed on 7 September 2016, with a slight change to the position Ofqual had previously taken.
The approach to awarding the top grades will be the same for all GCSE subjects. A formula will be used that means that around 20% of all grades at 7 or above will be a grade 9. This has changed: previously it was announced that the top 20% of grades at 7 or above in each subject would be a grade 9.
The new 9–1 grading system will more accurately reflect the differentiation between students’ abilities and achievements in each subject compared to the previous A* to G scale.
The grade 8 boundary will be equally spaced between the grade 7 and grade 9 boundaries. To carry forward the current standard, the number of grades 7, 8 and 9 awarded for an individual subject will be based on the proportion of the cohort who would have been expected to get an A or A*, had the qualification not been reformed.
Certificates
If you take your exams in the summer season you will be issued with certificates in the December of that year. You will be invited in as a current Year 12 or ex Year 11 or ex Year 13 student to collect these at an after school event in the December of that current year. If you do not attend and collect your certificates the school will only hold these for 1 year. After this time they will be destroyed. This is according to Exams board and school retention policy.
Any exams taken at any other stage of the year will have the same policy applied.
If you have decided to leave the school during any stage, certificates will still only be held for a year.
It is entirely your responsibility to collect and keep safe your certificates as you may be asked to produce them at any stage in the future.
After this time you will have to apply to the relevant exam board for a replacement certificate at your own cost.
Certificate Collection
All GCSE & GCE certificates are issued to the school in December of the year you took your exams.
We hold a presentation evening for GCSE in December, and an afternoon in December for GCE, where you are invited to collect your certificates in person.
If you do not attend this evening the certificates are available to collect from West Wing reception until the end of the academic year. You will need to ring or e mail information@hayesfield.com in order to arrange a time for you to collect.
If you are asking a third party to collect certificates on your behalf we must be informed of the name of the person who is collecting, and they MUST bring photographic evidence i.e. a passport with them.
No information about the results can be given in emails or in person to anyone except the students, even parents and guardians, as they are the student’s personal documentation.
After a year has elapsed we no longer need to keep these certificates and they may be destroyed, in accordance with JCQ guidelines.
All certificates are the responsibility of the named person on them and it falls to them to arrange collection. If you have left midway through the Year you should send in an e mail to information and we will advise you when you can collect your certificates.
Please understand that it is not possible to just ‘drop in’ and collect certificates, it can only be done by prior arrangement.
The Exams office will not send any letters or emails home regarding this.
Unclaimed Certificates
The Awarding Bodies have agreed to implement a standard procedure for dealing with unclaimed certificates.
Centres may destroy any unclaimed certificates by a secure method (for example by shredding or incineration) after holding them for a period of 12 months from the date of issue.
Replacement Certificates
Your certificate is a valuable document and you should keep it safe. Employers and admissions officers at colleges and universities may ask to see your certificates to prove which awards you have achieved.
Duplicates may be issued to replace award documents which are lost, stolen or completely destroyed.
The links for the area of the websites, giving information about replacement certificates, for the four Awarding Bodies that we currently use are listed below.
- AQA – www.aqa.org.uk
- OCR – www.ocr.org.uk
- Edexcel – www.edexcel.com
- WJEC – www.wjec.co.uk
