Dear Parent/ Carer,

We truly appreciate what a stressful time this has been for your child over the last eighteen months: a change in educational practice and the announcement that GCSE examinations have been cancelled.

By now, we are sure that you are fully aware of this, but we wanted to confirm what The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have stated about this year’s GCSE results.

Ofqual have stated that exams cannot take place this year in a way which is perceived to be fair, so teachers must assess students’ performance only on the content delivered to them to determine their grade.

The school will take into account lots of information, including: any work completed in the physical work packs during lockdown, classwork, assessments, mock exams, Art portfolio work, spoken language assessments, GCSE examination completed in exam conditions and any coursework.

The work completed by your child will then be scrutinised, graded, moderated and signed off by the Principal. The GCSE grades need to be sent to the exam boards no later than Friday 18th June 2021.

The exam boards will then analyse all of the information we have given them to deem whether the grade we have given is accurate and fair.

Students will gain their results on Thursday 12th August 2021

between 9.00am and 12.00pm.

If students want to appeal their results because they feel that it does not reflect the standard of their performance, they can.  A Student Guide to GCSEs which goes into more detail and which also covers further information on appeals can be found at: https://www.theedgeacademy.co.uk/the-edge-academys-student-guide-to-awarding-gcse-grades-in-summer-2021/

 

Leaving Arrangements 

After half term we need students to come to school to complete their final GCSE examinations and coursework. These will take place on the following days:

Monday 7th June 2021 GCSE English Literature 9.15am until completion of the exam.
Tuesday 8th June 2021 GCSE Food and Nutrition/ Catering 9.15am until completion of the two-course meal and exam papers.
Wednesday 9th June 2021 GCSE Combined Science 9.15am until completion of all exam papers.
Thursday 10th June 2021 GCSE Art 9.15am until completion of the portfolio.

 

The expectation is that all students attend: the GCSE exams need to be marked and moderated by another teacher/ school before we can send the grades off to the exam boards. If students do not attend, they will not achieve the highest possible GCSE grade and could, in a worst case scenario, fail the course.

Unless we need your child for any further assessments, your child’s last day of conventional GCSE teaching  will be on Thursday 10th June 2021.

Please feel free to email me at [email protected]  if you have any queries or concerns.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Claire Fairburn,

Assistant Principal (Quality of Education)