11 July 2021
Results day organisation
Following discussion with other local schools our results day will be virtual this year. We know, from last year's experience, that we can provide effective support online and we do not wish to exacerbate the situation with the number of COVID cases currently. We can release the results to you at 8.30am on Thursday 12th August so we will send an email to your school email address with your results at 8.30am or shortly after. If you have not received your results by 9am on that morning, please contact us on resultsday@waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk so that we can sort out any issues. Please check that you can access your school email address before results day and contact ictsupport@waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk if you need your password reset, for example.
We have a long tradition of providing support and guidance for students on results day and this will work the same way as last year - please email the dedicated email address resultsday@waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk and we will make sure that one of us contact you for a supportive discussion. Please note that we cannot discuss individual grades for subjects (please see "What do I do if I’m not happy with my grade?" below) - this is because they have already been through a rigorous internal moderation process before being submitted to the examination board.
GCSE 2021 Appeals Process
How were my grades arrived at this year?
Grades this summer were based on Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs). TAGs were submitted to the exam boards by us as a holistic assessment of students’ performance in a subject, following a rigorous process of assessment, moderation and quality assurance. These grades were then approved by the relevant exam board, following external quality assurance checks. All the details of the assessments used and the Centre Policy (which was approved by JCQ) can be found on our website at https://waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk/teaching-and-learning/examinations/year-11-assessment-summer-2021.
What do I do if I’m not happy with my grade?
All students have the opportunity to appeal their grade if they meet the eligibility criteria (see below). It is important to note that an appeal may result in a grade being lowered, staying the same, or going up. Therefore, if a student puts in an appeal and their grade is lowered, they will receive the lower mark. There is also the option to resit GCSEs in the autumn. If you wish to take part in these resits, you will need to contact school to enable us to make the appropriate arrangements. The design, content and assessment of these papers will be the same as in a normal year.
What are the grounds for appeal?
There are five main grounds for appeal, as dictated by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). They are:
- You think we have made an administrative error: an example of this would be putting the wrong information into a spreadsheet.
- You think we have made a procedural error: this means we haven’t properly followed our own process, as approved by the exam board.
- You think the academic judgement on the selection of evidence was unreasonable: you think the evidence used to grade you was not reasonable.
- You think the academic judgement on the grade you were given was unreasonable.
What does ‘unreasonable’ mean?
‘Unreasonable’ is a technical term in this context and means that no educational professional acting reasonably could have selected the same evidence or come up with the same grade. This means that just because other forms of evidence may have been equally valid to use, the selection of evidence is not unreasonable. Because of the flexibility of the approach this year, every school and college will have used different forms of evidence. It also means that the independent reviewers will not remark or grade students’ evidence. Instead, they will look to see whether any teacher acting reasonably could have arrived at the same grade.
What will be the outcome of an appeal?
At either stage of the appeals process (see ‘What are the two stages of an appeal?’ below), your grade may go up, stay the same, or go down. When placing an appeal the student will have to sign a declaration saying that they accept the fact their grade may go down and they may get a lower grade than their original TAG.
What’s a priority appeal?
Priory appeals are only open to A level students starting university this autumn, who have missed out on the conditions of their firm or insurance offer. Therefore, Priority appeals cannot be offered to GCSE pupils.
What should I do before appealing?
Students must read the JCQ Student and Parent guide before appealing, which will be available on the JCQ website by results day. We may not be able to offer as much advice and guidance on the likely success of an appeal this summer as we would in normal years, as we have already moderated and quality assured all the grades ourselves.
What are the two stages of an appeal?
All appeals, on any of the grounds above, must first go through a centre review. At this stage, we will check for any administrative errors, and check that our policies and procedures were followed correctly. Please note that our policy has already been approved by the exam boards, so we are only ensuring that we followed this properly. The outcome of the centre review will be communicated to students when made. At the centre review stage, if we find that a grade should go up or down, we will ask the exam board to change it. They will then consider this request. Following the outcome of a centre review, students may still choose to pursue an awarding organisation appeal. They must fill in the form provided by JCQ (see "How do I make an appeal?" below) which we will then send on their behalf to the exam boards. Students and parents cannot send appeals directly to the exam board themselves – it must come from us. The outcome of the awarding organisation appeal will be communicated to students when made. Please note that the awarding organisation will not remark individual assessments.
How do I make an appeal?
Following results day, students should fill in the first section of the JCQ form here and send it to resultsday@waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk in order to request a Centre Review.
What are the deadlines for appeals?
The deadline for submitting an appeal is 1st September 2021. If you submit a request for a Centre Review by the 1st September then the deadline for a subsequent appeal to the awarding organisation, should that be required, is the 10th September 2021
We have worked very hard to make sure that the grades are based on appropriate evidence. All grades have been rigorously checked and a sample have sent to the examination boards for scrutiny. Our overall approach ahs been checked and validate by the examination boards.
Should you have any questions please email resultsday@waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk.
Best wishes
James Harris
Headteacher
