GCSE Grade Awarding 2021 - 16/03/2021 Update
Hello everyone - as we said we would, we will continue to update you about the awarding of grades in 2021 and the key timeline you can expect. The details, as a summary, are below:
1. Now until Easter – great responsive teaching with lots of feedback for you as well as class teachers letting you know roughly where you are and what level this might equate to. Your teachers will also begin preparing you for the next month or two.
2. End of March – we should be given the exam board materials (question papers / exemplars / detailed mark schemes etc...)
3. Shortly after Easter you'll be sent a link to a page with a video message from each Team Leader about assessment in their subject (what is likely to come up / how the assessment will specifically work / what you can do to prepare etc...). This will build from what your teachers are now currently informing you about, and will hopefully reassure you and allow you to prepare as best as possible.
4. Post-Easter and until around 28th May – main assessment window (your teachers will be clear with you when assessments in a given subject will take place).
5. 10th May - grade range certificates produced which give you an indication of how you are doing in each subject (there is an example below)
6. 11th May – Year 11 tutor virtual event to support the certificates and talk through with you how you feel / any concerns / any support we can offer
7. 28th May – around this time the main assessment window will close and you'll receive an updated grade range certificate, where ranges are refined
8. 18th June – absolute deadline to boards
Below is an example of the grade range certificate you'll be receiving:
We will update you as we progress through the above 8 points, and as ever if you've any concerns / worries / things to ask please do get in contact with your subject teacher, subject team leader, tutor, house leader or any member of Noadswood staff who will do everything they can to support you.
GCSE Grade Awarding 2021 - 25/02/2021 Announcement
Hello everyone - this page has some updates about the GCSE qualifications for 2021. Firstly, please watch the quick video update from Miss Marshall below:
There is also a 20 minute video from Mr Crowley about the return and the unified message:
Today (25/02/2021) the GCSE awarding for 2021 announcement was made by the government, and they have released the full details in this press release below (click link):
From this release the key information has been summarised below -
- GCSE exams will be replaced by grades determined and awarded by teachers (there will be no algorithm used)
- Teachers can use a range of evidence to determine these grades (mocks / coursework / other work such as in-class tests or essays already completed)
- Exam boards will also be supplying optional question papers which can be used as evidence (these will be taken in-class not in an exams-hall environment)
- Grades need to be submitted by 18/06/2021 to the exam boards
- Results day will take place during the week of 09/08/2021
- There will be an appeals process for the awarded grade
Like we did in 2020, we will be ensuring that the grades determined and awarded are:
- Fair
- Evidenced based
- Without bias
It is important to note that, unlike in 2020, Year 11 will be returning in March and though there has been a great deal of time lost, the return does allow for students to continue their study of the curriculum and have the opportunity to add to the evidence staff already have collected about their potential in a given subject and evidence for a fair GCSE grade. The exams submission deadline is 18/06/2021 which is designed to allow students as much teaching time as possible before teachers make their assessments.
It is likely that we will ask teachers to continue with the curriculum as normal for Year 11 upon return, with teachers collecting evidence and preparing students in the subject as best they can. It is then planned that in May further evidence will be collected, including asking students to sit some forms of assessment which will likely include the released exam board papers (or parts of these papers of which the curriculum has been completed) as well as other appropriate content. This will form a very strong piece of evidence in justifying an awarded grade, which we know will be scrutinised - exam boards will provide detailed guidance before the end of the spring term for support teachers, Team Leaders and Noadswood in making their judgements.
*The intention is that regardless of how much time students might have missed out of Noadswood, they will have questions on a topic they will have studied allowing for a fair judgement of a grade.
Noadswood will, like we always do, take a little time to digest this information and make the absolute best decision for our students. We will release more details in the next week or so about what a return to Noadswood will be like for Year 11 and a more detailed timeline.
There has also been a nice summary of the documentation released on the BBC website below (click link):
And Schools Week have written a piece about the decisions made and some of the things that need to be considered below (click link):
Ofqual Consultation Outcomes
Beyond the headlines: below are the decisions around this summer’s grading, with more detail, quality assurance, and nuance than has so far been reported (click link):
