With the imminent return to school for Year 11 students, and the freshly released government plans for this year’s GCSE Grading now available, I wanted to update on the current position and plan for our remaining time with Year 11 here at the College. Whilst we have the information from the Department of Education, the full supporting guidance from the individual exam boards (and the additional assessment tasks to be provided) are still to be published. We will of course keep you fully updated with any changes once the full information becomes available.
However, with the shared goal of supporting your child to achieve to their full potential this year and to prepare for the remaining time in school, we have put together a timeline of the processes that we will need to follow over the coming months. The fundamental aim for this plan, is to utilise the remaining time left to provide as much evidence of your child’s ability to confirm grades that are a true and fair reflection of their ability in every subject.
It is important to note that the final submitted Centre Assessed Grade (CAG) submitted to exam boards on 14th June is not a confirmed GCSE grade. Exam boards will carry out a moderation process of their own that may change the grades that have been submitted. Final GCSE grades will be confirmed on results day, 12th August 2021.
How will subjects be assessed?
All students will be assessed against a collation of evidence built up through a number of tasks, both throughout the course so far and also from the remaining time in Year 11.
It is important to note that NO single exam or assessment piece will be used solely to form a Centre Assessed Grade. (CAG).
Students will be assessed using a combination of subject appropriate tasks, to include from the following:
- Any teacher-assessed piece of work completed across the course.
- Any mock, unit or module examinations taken over the two-year course.
- External units or exam marks that have already been taken or awarded.
- Any further assessments that can be completed between now and the release of final CAG grades.
- Any non-examined assessment tasks completed throughout the course.
- Performance tasks.
- Exam board provided assessments (completed in timetabled lessons).
How Will the Process Remain Fair?
Individual Grades will not be awarded by individual teachers. The centre will undertake a full moderation process of all assessment data collated to ensure a fair process in determining each student’s final CAG. Full process details are to be released shortly by all exam boards to ensure that the process is completed in a fair and robust way.
In terms of ensuring the process is accurate, rigorous and non-discriminatory, we have a number of procedures in place prior to the final whole school moderation process, including:
- Internal departmental moderation.
- Blind Marking – student names removed from the assessment prior to marking.
- External moderation using qualified professionals not currently employed at CCBC.
As a school, we will continue to provide as much information to students regarding which topics will be covered for each of the assessments that they complete, the schedule and type of assessments and the standard of the evidence they are providing. We ask that students work with us, with maximum effort, to provide us with the evidence we require to provide the grades they deserve.
Students can be assured that they will only be assessed on content that has been covered during the course and that the content required to ensure progression to next stages of study will also be validated as part of the grading process.
Whilst we appreciate that this may be a time of great concern and anxiety for your children, please do be assured that we remain committed to working with you to ensure that they achieve a grade that is a fair reflection of their ability.
Should you have any further questions regarding the process, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Reuben Thorley
Headteacher
Letter from the Headteacher – Year 11 GCSE Examination Grading Process 2021