Rules and Regulations
Students must follow the JCQ Regulations for both internal and external examinations. It is important that students are aware of these regulations to ensure excellent conduct during examinations. See further guidance here: JCQ Regulations.
An Assembly will be held closer to the start of the written examinations reminding candidates of the rules and expectations. You are expected to know these rules by reading any information given to you and through any documents online. You must pay particular attention to the ‘Information for Candidates’ (IFC) documents at the link here.
Useful Information
Your examination timetable will be on Arbor and you will be given a printed copy. Make sure you check it regularly, so that you know when and where your exams are taking place.
Contingency days: In the event of examinations being disrupted nationally JCQ has made contingency plans. There are designated days in place and for summer 2025 these are: Afternoon of Wednesday 11th June and all day Wednesday 25th June. All students should remain available until the final contingency date, unless you have sat your final examination on your timetable without disruptions.
Malpractice: Unfortunately, malpractice happens every year, intentionally or unintentionally. The best way to protect yourself from committing malpractice is by knowing the regulations of what is permitted and what is not. A good starting point is reading the ‘Information for Candidate’ (IFC) documents, the ‘Warning to Candidate’ and ‘Unauthorised items’ posters (which are on the door to every exam venue). In all cases where prohibited material or items are found, e.g. a mobile phone or unacceptable behaviour or communication have taken place, the invigilators will report it to the examinations officer and the Principal. All examination organisations and the police monitor social media sites for any examination related information, attempts at ‘cheating’ and / or bragging about cheating. We are bound by the rules to report all instances to the examination organisations. The outcome of a case, and thus what sanction might be given to an individual, is entirely up to the examination organisation and out of our hands.45 % of all malpractice cases are due to having a mobile phones on you.
Invigilators: The school employs external invigilators to supervise examinations. You are expected to behave in a respectful manner towards all invigilators and follow their instructions at all times. Invigilators are there to supervise, support and uphold the conduct of the examination. They will distribute and collect the examination papers, tell you when to start and finish the examination, hand out extra writing paper if required and deal with any problems that occur during the examination, for example, if you suddenly feel ill. Invigilators are not allowed to discuss the examination paper with you or explain questions. Separate invigilation is not allowed under normal circumstances and will only be considered for medical purposes in exceptional situations.
Expected Behaviour and Attendance
You are expected to attend all examinations unless you are seriously ill. Y11s must wear full school uniform and Sixth formers must wear appropriate clothing for school. Students who are disruptive or behave in an unacceptable manner will be removed from the examination room by invigilators, the examinations officer or a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Listen carefully to instructions and notices read out at the beginning of an examination – there may be amendments to the examination paper that you need to know about. If you feel unwell during the examination put your hand up and an invigilator will assist you. If you feel unwell before starting the examination, inform the examinations officer or an invigilator, and we may be able to seat you away from other candidates by moving your desk. Do not attempt to communicate with or distract other candidates. Only water in transparent bottles (with sports cap/non-spill) is allowed. Any other bottle will be removed from you. Please do not write on examination desks. This is regarded as vandalism and you will be asked to pay for any damage. You may use the toilet during an examination if it is absolutely necessary! Put your hand up and an invigilator will escort you. You will not be given extra time for ‘time lost’.
Access Arrangements (AA)
If you have been assessed and approved for AA, this should be part of your normal way of working during your course in year 10-11 or Y12-13. If you just have extra time allocated, you will most likely sit in the main hall/room with everyone else or in a smaller venue. The timings on your timetable (after rooming) should take extra time into account. If you use a word processor or a computer reader you will sit in a room on site. If you have more specialised AA in place you might be placed in a one-to-one venue or in a classroom. Please check your timetable carefully to ensure you know which venue you are allocated for each examination. A specific room cannot be promised for every examination, as we have to adapt to room availability in the working school day. If you, for some reason, do not wish to use your allocated AA or only want to use it for certain examinations, please speak to the examinations officer in good time before examinations start. In this situation your parents will have to agree and a letter will be sent home.
Timetable Clash
Clashes are unfortunate but happen every year. We as a centre will resolve the clash in the best interest of the candidate within the limitations of the regulations. If you have had a timetable clash which has been resolved, it is important to remember that you must remain under centre supervision in between the examinations taken. You will receive more information from the exams officer to ensure you know where to go for this supervision. It is a good idea to bring food and drink with you on the day as we cannot guarantee an opportunity to gain access to the canteen to purchase food.
Equipment
Having the correct equipment is your responsibility. We are no longer providing equipment as standard. You must bring with you the following equipment for EVERY examination: 2 black pens, 2 pencils, ruler, rubber, Compasses & Protractors (for mathematics only) Coloured pencil crayons (for geography & DT only) Water in a transparent bottle with sports cap and NO label. Calculator! (for mathematics, sciences, geography, psychology, business studies) You must make sure your calculator conforms to the examination regulations and that it is a scientific calculator. Remove any covers/lids or instructions and make sure it is working and the memory is cleared. Make sure you have all the correct equipment before the examination starts. Borrowing from other candidates during the exam is NOT allowed. Your pencil case must be transparent. Equipment for medical purposes, i.e. inhaler/epi-pen/diabetic devices, etc. must be brought into the examination room by you! Please make sure the examinations officer is aware of any special arrangement.
Examination Days
Always aim to arrive 20 minutes prior to the start time of your examination. This will give you a safety margin should you encounter problems on your journey. You must inform the school immediately if you become aware that you are late. Morning examinations normally start at 9:00am. You should put your bags and coats in the Year 11 Common Room (or in your locker for Sixth Form students), then go straight to the examination room. Afternoon examinations will start at 1.00pm.
Rooms and Seating
Your examination timetable will show you which room you are in. If you are scheduled in the hall, please line up in seat number order in front of the correct letter outside the Large Hall. If you are in a small venue, please go straight to that room. Before entering the examination room, make sure your mobile phone is switched off and leave it in your bag (or hand it in to the invigilator at the door to put in the mobile phone box), along with any other items prohibited to bring into the room. Your bag, coat, etc. should have already been placed in the Year 11 Common Room. Please find your seat as quickly as possible and remain silent. As soon as you enter the examination room you are under examination conditions and may not communicate with fellow students. Do not open your examination paper or start writing anything before asked to do so. Please check you have the correct (expected) question paper before you start – check the subject, paper and tier of entry (if tiered). If any other equipment is missing, you must let the invigilators know before the exam. If in doubt, please ask! You must do any rough work in the answer booklet provided. Cross out anything that you do not wish to be marked. Highlighter pens must not be used in answer booklets but you are allowed to highlight parts on the question paper if you wish to. You are not allowed to use: GEL PENS, CORRECTING FLUID, PENS OR ‘MICE’ IN ANY ANSWER BOOKLETS. This is to protect you and your examination; if correction devices were allowed then someone could tamper with your examination paper and it would be undetectable.
Attendance, Lateness and Absence
Please attend every scheduled examination to give yourself the best opportunity of achieving. If you miss a written examination you will NOT be able to take it on a different day. If you have no valid reason for missing an examination you may be charged and will be awarded a zero on the paper. However, if you are ill or for any other reason you are unable to attend, you MUST telephone the school immediately and get a message to the attendance office. You will be asked to provide medical evidence (a doctor’s note) stating the reason for your absence. You may be awarded a zero for the paper missed, if the absence is not approved by the examination boards. This is out of our control and to still grade with special consideration, robust medical evidence will be required by the exam boards. Any candidate who arrives late for an examination must speak to the lead invigilator or the examinations officer before entering the exam room. You may still be admitted. If you arrive more than one hour after the start of any examination, the examinations officer must be assured that you have been under supervision and not had access to electronic devices, i.e. your mobile phone. The examination organisations will have to be notified and your paper may not be accepted. This is out of our control.
Emergency Evacuation
If the fire alarm sounds during an examination the invigilators will stop the examination and guide you on what to do. If you have to evacuate the room you will be asked to: Close your booklets. Leave everything on your desk. Leave in silence. You must not attempt to communicate with anyone else during the evacuation. You must always remain with the invigilator(s) and under supervision otherwise you will be in breach of regulations. You will be escorted to the near astro to line up in seat number order - YOU MUST REMAIN UNDER EXAM CONDITIONS DURING THIS TIME. Do not go to your tutor group. When you return to the examination room do not start writing until the invigilator tells you to do so. You will be allowed the full working time for the examination and a report will be sent to the awarding body detailing the incident.
Leaving the Examination Room
Invigilators will collect your examination papers before you leave the room. Absolute silence must be maintained during this time. There will often be more than one examination in the same room. This means that examinations will finish at different times and candidates will be leaving at different times. Please show respect for those still working when you leave the hall. Remember you are still under examination conditions until you have left the room. You will not be allowed to leave an examination before the end of the ordinary time. If you have finished the paper, use any time remaining to check over your answers and that you have completed your details correctly on all booklets and extra paper used. You must remain silent. If you have extra time in place, you may leave at the end of ordinary time, if you do not wish to use your extra time. You will be asked to sign to declare that you have chosen not to use your extra time entitlement before being dismissed. No material must be taken away from the exam room. Never leave an examination room if you have ANY unanswered questions, comments or an issue with the examination just taken. As long as you are under examination conditions we can help and solve most issues. As soon as you walk out of the room, we are not able to help or fix anything that has gone wrong during that particular examination. Speak to someone.
After Examinations
Any issue or problem that may have occurred during an examination, that was addressed BEFORE leaving the room, either for you as an individual or for a group of candidates, it may be possible to apply for special consideration. Special Consideration is an adjustment to the marks or grades of an individual unit. The allowance for special consideration is from 0-5% and it is the awarding organisations alone that decide to grant it or not. The school has no power over the outcome. You and your parents should be aware that any adjustment is likely to be small and no feedback is ever provided. You will only be eligible for special consideration if you have completed a minimum of 15% of the course, been fully prepared and covered the whole course but performance in the examination or in the production of coursework is affected by adverse circumstances beyond your control. Examples of such circumstances may be illness, accident or injury, bereavement, domestic crisis at the time of producing the coursework. Please note that misreading the timetable is not an accepted explanation of absence.
Results Days
Results Days are set by the DfE and published nationally in August. On this day you will receive a ‘candidate statement of results’.
A Level results are available on Thursday 14th August 2025.
GCSE results are available on Thursday 21st August 2025.
More information regarding these arrangements will be sent to you towards the end of June. Post results services: If you have taken a qualification which contains a non-assessed-examination or coursework, you should be told the provisional grade/mark for this unit before written examinations start. If you believe there is an issue with the internally moderated grade/mark, please refer to the internal appeals policy. If you, on results day, have any reason to believe there is an error in your results, you must speak to a member of staff as soon as possible. An investigation may need to take place before considering a post-result service. You will receive information about which post result services are available, deadlines, and how to make a request and what the fees are.
Certificates, distribution and retention: The examination organisations send out final certificates to schools after the post-results services have closed and been completed. This is usually in early November. The certificates will then be checked by the examinations officer and packed. A notification will be posted on the school website and via social media as to when certificates, etc. are available to collect from reception.. Certificates will not be posted to you as we will need you or a nominated person to sign upon collection. If you are unable to collect them yourself you will need to give a third party permission to collect on your behalf. Certificates are valuable documents and you should keep them safe. On average it will cost you £50.00 to replace each certificate if you either don’t collect from school in time or if you lose them later on in life. The centre will only keep certificates for five years, after which they will be destroyed.
ADD IN DOCUMENTATION FROM JCQ AT THE END ON SOCIAL MEDIA + POSTERS FROM EXAM ROOMS + NEA CANDIDATE WARNING