Examinations

THE GCSE & GCE EXAMS FOR THE JUNE 2024 SERIES WILL TAKE PLACE FROM Friday 3rd MAY TO FRIDAY 21st  JUNE. 

The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) have announced that there will be additional contingency days for this summer’s GCSE and A Level examinations. The contingency day is in the event of national or significant local disruption to exams in the UK. Following the Covid-19 pandemic further resilience was needed within the exam timetables. A single contingency day was not felt to be sufficient if a national event or incident had a significant effect on the exam timetable.

For the June 2024 exams the awarding bodies have therefore introduced two additional half-day contingency sessions. These are on the afternoons of Thursday 6th June 2024 and Thursday 13th June 2024. The standard contingency day remains at the end of the timetable being scheduled on Wednesday 26th June 2024.

Please ensure that your child is available on these extra half day sessions, and also up to and including Wednesday 26th June. If an individual student misses a timetabled examination it cannot then be sat on any of these contingency dates, they are solely for the purpose of a national event or significant local disruption affecting the whole cohort. You are advised not to book a holiday until after these dates, as being on holiday is not an acceptable reason to miss a GCSE exam.

Absence on the day of an exam

If you are ill on the day of an exam, we advise you to attend your exam where possible. If this is not possible you should ring Reception at the earliest opportunity. You will be asked to provide evidence, if available, of the illness to Miss Lavery. If you are absent for another reason you (or parent/guardian) should make contact with Reception on the day to give an explanation, again with evidence if this is applicable. You will be asked to come to Reception at the earliest opportunity to fill in a self-certification form. Exams cannot be rescheduled for another day. 

Please make sure you familiarise yourself with the following documents before your exams. They contain important information to help you succeed in the Summer.

Information for Candidates

Preparing to sit your exams

Using Social Media around Exams

JCQ Privacy Notice

The A Level results day is Thursday 15th August 2024. The results will be available for collection between 8.00am and 10:00am in the school hall.

The GCSE results day is Thursday 22nd August 2024.  The results will be available for collection between 9.00am and 11:00am in the school hall.

If you are unable to attend on this day, and you can arrange for another person to collect your results on your behalf. That person must have a letter of permission from you (or this has been provided to the Examinations Officer in advance of results day), authorising them to collect your results, and photo ID for themselves. Results will not be handed over without both of these requirements being met.

Results are not given out over the phone. Results can be sent via email to the student’s personal email.  Results will not be issued to parents via email without the written permission from the student. This arrangement must be made with Miss Lavery in advance of results day, before the end of the summer term. 

Members of the Senior Leadership Team, the Head of KS4, and Heads of Faculty may be available on these dates for any advice concerning the results.

If you have a question about your results please speak to Miss Lavery on the day or via email. 

After receiving your results, if you think there has been an error with the marking of your exam, or if you are unhappy with your results, you can request one of the post-results services. These are either a clerical re-check or a review of marking. You are also able to request a copy of your examination papers to help decide on whether to request a review – this is the Access to Scripts service (ATS).

Service 1: Clerical re-check

This service will include the following checks:

• that all parts of the script have been marked

• the totalling of marks

• the recording of marks.

Service 2: Review of marking

This is a review of the original marking to ensure that the mark scheme has been applied correctly.

Reviewers will not re-mark the script, they will only act to correct any errors identified in the original

marking.

A marking error can occur because of:

• an administrative error

• a failure to apply the mark scheme where a task has only a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer

• an unreasonable exercise of academic judgement.

Service 2P: PRIORITY Review of marking

This service is available for A Level students only, where a university or college place is pending.

Candidates are advised to inform their university or college choices when a priority review of marking has been requested.

This is a PRIORITY version of Service 2: Review of marking.

ATS: Access to scripts

Awarding Bodies will provide access to marked exam scripts for written examinations. A ‘script’ refers to the written work of a candidate which has resulted from an externally assessed paper/component/unit.

Candidate consent must be obtained in writing from the student – please see (or email) Miss Lavery on results day for the permission form.

Most access to scripts services are free, however there is a cost for access to scripts post review of marking.

To request a post-results service, please see (or email) Miss Lavery on results day for a request form which must be filled in by the student. A fee for all post-results services apply and these will be invoiced to you by the finance department.

If the grade of the subject you are reviewing changes, then the fee is waived.

The fees for post-results services for 2024 will be available on results day. These vary by exam board.

Your GCSE/GCE certificates, which are proof from the individual exam boards of the grades you achieved (different to the statement of results received on results day), will be available for collection from school from mid-November 2024. An email will be sent out when the certificates are ready for collection.

Students who have joined Year 12 will receive GCSE certificates within school. Students who have left ALS should come into school to collect their certificates.  Please contact Reception to arrange a time for collection.  If you cannot collect your certificates in person then you can send someone on your behalf.  They must have a letter of permission from you (or this can be given via an email from yourself) and photo ID of themselves to confirm their identity. Certificates will only be posted when none of the above can happen.

Please keep your certificates safe.  They are valuable documents and are difficult to replace.  If certificates are misplaced or damaged, you should contact the relevant exam boards to discuss replacement. Arnold Lodge School does not keep copies of certificates.  If you legally change your name following receipt of your certificates you should contact the relevant exam board to discuss amending them.

Certificates will be kept in secure storage in school for 2 years.  After this time they will be confidentially and securely destroyed.

Students will not be contacted by Arnold Lodge School to remind them to collect their certificates.

Year 11 Exam Boards:

*For Year 12 Computer Science only.

Year 13 Exam Boards: