Please read this post if you would like more information on how the January GCSE results inform planning for the final GCSE exams.
As I’m sure you are aware, year 11 pupils recently received the results from the January GCSE exam series. We would like to take this opportunity to provide you with further information about how we use these results.
These exams were an opportunity for early entry. This means that pupils were able to develop their exam skills and in many subjects now have a ‘safety net’ going into the summer exam series.
However, pupils need to use what they have learned from the January exams to ensure even higher achievement by the end of the GCSE course. As such, the majority of pupils will be re-entered for these exams. Staff are currently analysing performance in these exams and using it to alter teaching and ensure that pupils continue to develop towards reaching their potential.
OFSTED have produced extensive guidance on the use of early entry in schools and have made it absolutely clear that it should not be used to limit progress:
“some schools with high levels of early entry do achieve good levels of success in terms of attainment and value-added. This is because they take a carefully considered approach and then use the early examination results to plan how best to raise students’ grades in subsequent entries.”
(http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/schools-use-of-early-entry-gcse-examinations)
Therefore, we have explained clearly to pupils that when they sit exams in the summer, they are not ‘re-sitting’; they are taking exams at the correct time. Early entry results will help to ensure that pupils fulfill their potential by the end of the course.
Please rest assured that we are committed to ensuring the highest possible achievement for all pupils.
A note on GCSE English/English Language
There is a complication this year with the English/English Language results that pupils have received. Due to the problems nationally with English grading last summer, the exam boards have not issued grades for the January exam series. The ‘grades’ that we issued to pupils were notional – an estimate based on grade boundaries from last summer. As such schools do not currently know what definite grade pupils achieved.
It is because of this that all pupils will be sitting their English exams in the summer exam series. Again, this is not a ‘re-sit’ as we do not yet know whether pupils achieved their targets or not in the January series. We have information on how well pupils did on individual questions and we’re using this data to help pupils improve between now and the final English exam. This will help to ensure that pupils don’t fall victim to changing grade boundaries.
