Head’s News – 7th May
Victory Europe Day:
I hope all parents and students enjoy a peaceful break on the 75th anniversary of V.E. day.
Good news for Year 10 GCSE English Literature students
I was delighted to receive the following announcement from Ofqual this week which confirmed that Year 10 will be awarded a calculated grade for English Literature this summer. The school will submit centre assessed grades to the examining body based on the full range of evidence available from the whole course.
“In line with our consultation proposal, we have
decided that students entered for exams in year 10 and below will be eligible to receive calculated grades this summer. This follows the majority of responses
received, which indicate that the progression of some students would be disrupted if they were not awarded a grade this summer, and to exclude them would have an unfair impact. Amongst the responses we received were concerns about the potential impact of excluding early entrants on disabled students or those with special educational needs, who might wish to spread their
GCSE exams over different years.” Ofqual.
Ofqual have made it clear that the centre assessed grades are confidential and schools are not allowed to share these with you. We would request that you do not contact teachers, heads of subject or senior leadership in relation to your child’s centre assessed grade as this is vital to the integrity of the system.
I would also like to take this opportunity to respond to a number of questions from Year 11 students:
I have been offered a place in Verulam’s Sixth Form. What happens if my grades this summer do not meet all of the entry criteria?
If there any problems regarding meeting criteria for the Sixth Form or individual courses, please speak to Mr Tromans or Mr Ramsey on results day.
How will be results be issued and how will I collect them?
Results will be issued to schools in the normal way and will be available for collection on Thursday 20th August from 10am. Year 10 results from 11am.
A level results on 13th August from 9am.
What about English speaking grades?
All grades submitted to the exam board are subject to moderation by the examination board and therefore could change.
Will in class assessments be taken into account for calculated grades?
All evidence from the two year GCSE course will be used in the calculation of centre assessed grades.
What happens for summer work set by Beaumont or Sandringham?
The summer work for all A level courses will be available at induction. Bridging work is now availa- ble on the Verulam website for courses taught at Ver- ulam.
What about retakes next year?
Ofqual have not yet published their plan in relation to retakes.
When will we know the status of our Sixth Form applications?
Sixth Form offers are confirmed after results day.
Headmaster’s Commendation
This week’s HM commendations go to:
Bayley Hoggarth in 7C for his work on Mother The- resa which was is exceptional.
Nikolai Cherniaev (7P), Jacob Hamilton (8P), Adam Smart (9H) and Victor Artemi (7C) – all for produc- ing posters to display in their windows to persuade people to comply with the government advice on so- cial distancing.
Anish Madhewoo for his superb art work which can be seen on page 4 based on a photo he took of a homeless man.
Louis Mostyn Year 9 for his fantastic performance of the Eagles Hotel California; and
Adam Goodwin Year 10 for his outstanding effort and organisation in Design and Technology. All work completed/up to date and submitted on time!
