Information on GCSE and A-Level assessment arrangements

Dear Parent/Guardian,

All schools have now been informed of the process by which CCEA will award GCSE and A Level grades this summer. Below is a summary of the key points from the documentation received, along with links to detailed guidance for your information.

The Senior Leadership Team, the exams and assessment team, the pastoral staff, Heads of Department and subject teachers will now embark on the process of working through this guidance, and the guidance from OFQUAL, in order to produce the centre assessment grades and rank orders required by the exam boards. The school has the information required to complete this process. Please note that we cannot share the centre assessment grade or the rank order with parents, pupils or anyone outside of the centre other than the relevant exam board.

We appreciate that this is a very challenging time for exam candidates and for their parents. Please be assured that our aim is to secure an outcome that is a fair and accurate reflection of the academic ability of all of our pupils.

I hope that you and your family are all keeping well.

Kindest regards

Mr Massey

A summary of the key points:

• Schools will submit a centre assessment grade for each student. This will be a holistic professional judgement, based on existing records and available evidence, to produce a grade that each student is most likely to have achieved if they had sat their exams and internally assessed components.  
• Schools will also be asked to rank pupils within each grade in each subject.
• The school cannot share the centre assessment grade or the rank order with pupils, parents or any other individual outside of the centre.
• CCEA will determine the final grade to be awarded.
• AS grades will be awarded in the summer but will not count towards the final A-Level grade. Final examinations taken in May and June 2021 will determine a pupil’s overall A-Level result.
• Pupils currently in L6 can also choose to sit AS examinations in summer 2021 alongside their A-Level examinations, either to improve their AS grade or to count towards their A level grade.
• For pupils in Year 11 currently taking GCSE modules, no grades will be awarded, however, they may be able sit exams in those modules in the autumn of 2020 or spring of 2021.
• Results will be issued in August as usual (13^th August AS and A Level, 20^th August GCSE).
• A robust appeals process will be put in place.
• Students who feel that their grades from this summer do not reflect their ability will be able to sit examinations at the next available opportunity. If they choose to do this, the higher grade will stand.