Dear Parent or Carer

Please click on this link to view the ‘Pre-public Examination’ timetable for the forthcoming exam series to be held at school in March and April of this year.
These papers represent a ‘mock’ of each examination paper candidates will sit in the public summer exam series from May onwards. All papers are sat to full time, in the correct examination rooms with full access arrangements (for those who qualify). The examinations will be supervised entirely by our invigilation team, as they will be in the summer. This is to best prepare students for the experience.
I will meet them at the start of each examination, outside the exam room. And will then hand them over to the invigilation team who will monitor the sitting of the papers.
It is important for students to know, that their teachers are not permitted into an exam room. The only two teachers permitted, are myself and The Head Teacher. Getting used to a team of new staff is an important part of this process.

On February 7th, we are due to receive updated information from government on ‘early release data’. As shared in the exams briefing before Christmas, this will not be a definitive list of every topic that will be set for the exams this summer, but an indication of topics for the higher mark questions only.
Formulae sheets for Mathmatics and Science examinations have already been sent to you and should be used for exam preparation. As soon as we have fuller information, I will send this to you and, will brief the students.

Students should be aware that for the Pre-public examinations in March-April, we will be setting a past paper that has been though standardisation. As we are unable to predict how the adjustments will be allocated into the June 2022 papers, we will not consider the adjustments from 7th February onwards; unless a whole section of a paper has been entirely removed from awarding this summer. This will then be reflected; for example, in English Literature and History where non-examined aspects will be removed.
We have been advised to use the 2019 grade boundaries for marking. You can access these on the relevant examination websites. This is not an indication that we will be setting the June 2019 papers verbatim; but that we will use the boundaries to determine the grades awarded.

Examinations are a legal process, and we have incredibly strict rules to follow. Many of which won’t come as a surprise, such as no talking, no communication, no notes. But there are some odd rules, such as no watches.
The start times of exams is one very strict rule. Morning examinations begin at 8.45am, so students really need to be at school, preparing by going to the toilet and checking equipment from 8.30am at the latest. Candidates are expected to report to their examination room and line up outside five minutes before the start time for each paper. No candidate will be admitted to any examination after 9.15am in the morning, and after 1.30pm in the afternoon. There is a 30-minute legal window to begin an exam. If a candidate does not begin within this time frame, they are automatically awarded a U grade.
There is a note at the bottom of the examination timetable regarding equipment for exams. As a centre, we are not able to provide equipment for candidates once they are in an exam room. Please ensure that your son/daughter has the correct equipment with them for every exam; especially enough pens and a scientific calculator/maths equipment for those papers where this is necessary. If you require support with this, please contact me directly.

A reminder that revision classes run during ‘period 7’ three days a week. Many staff are also offering lunch time sessions as a drop in where students can check key concepts of pick up revision notes. Lesson content is also accessible on Teams and can be referred to there to aid revision. He
Period 7 is likely to increase to include a Friday as we edge closer to the public exams. I will also confirm where revision will be held in holidays; it is worth considering that the Easter and May holidays will have revision sessions running.

Following the Easter holidays, we will hold a mock results day. This will coincide with parents evening on Thursday 10th March 2022. Then, we really will be, on the final countdown.

As ever, if you have questions, please contact us at school where we will be more than happy to help.

Yours faithfully

Ms K Protheroe
Deputy Head Teacher