Exam FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Exam notices for the website (Current as of September 2024)

1 Results days

1. Results days in 2024 are Thursday 15^th August for year 13 and Thursday 22^nd August for year 11
2. Any year 12 / year 10 results can be obtained after 11am on the relevant results day or in September
3. Students are expected to attend the results day if at all possible
4. Results belong to the student and we are not allowed to communicate with parents or give parents information regarding results without the written permission of the student
5. A student can give a relative or a friend permission but MUST email the Exams officer from their personal account to let inform her of this arrangement a note to allow them to pick up their results on results day
6. If a student wishes results to be emailed to them (or some else) they must email the exams officer lsh@hws.haringey.sch.uk at least three working days before the end of the summer term from their personal not their school email address. Once we have this permission we endeavour to send the information by 2pm on the day of the results – we cannot do this earlier as the exams team are running results day.

2 Appeals for results

1. If you wish to seek a re-mark for any result the deadline is 24^th September 2024
2. All requests for a re-mark must be made by the student (not the parent) and be made in person on the results day with a completed EAR form, cash or cheque or SCOPAY receipt or by the student from their personal (not school) email the exams officer lsh@hws.haringey.sch.uk and copy examquestions@hws.haringey.sch.uk with the completed EAR form and a SCOPAY receipt (see appendices)
3. If you need an urgent re-mark in order to secure a university place the deadline for the ‘priority service’ is 22^nd August
4. Results for the non-priority re-marks arrive in school by the end the second week of October – please do not contact the school prior to this date to check on re-mark results
5. Results for the priority re-marks arrive in school within 7 days of sending the request – please do not contact the school before this date to check on re-mark results

3 Advice about whether to appeal a result

1. The exams officer / exams team cannot give any guidance on whether to apply for a re-mark they can only inform students on how many marks away from the grade boundary above the student is
2. No advice can be given by the exams team on which paper or papers to re-mark (usually there is no way of knowing which paper is more likely to increase the mark)

1. The only advice that might be given is by subject teachers and it needs to be recognised that this is only a point of view and not guaranteed, any re-marks are the student’s decision

1. Subject teachers might feel able to give advice though equally they may not feel able to and this needs to be respected
2. Any advice sought from teachers can be requested in person on results day or by email to a named teacher (if one is available) and this email must be sent the same day as the results are given out or the day after in order to manage staff workload though there is no guarantee of an answer during the school holiday
3. In the absence of direct advice from teachers, in general we suggest that in a maths or science-based subject it is usually only worth getting a re-mark if within two marks of the grade above. For a literacy-based exam then perhaps 4-5 marks from the grade above would be appropriate.  If it can be afforded then it is likely better to have all papers re-marked but for financial reasons students / parents might decide not to do this.

4 Contacting the exams officer

1. During the summer holiday we do try to ensure there are responses to emails (unless the information is on the school website) though by necessity this is limited to the Monday before the first results day and successive Mondays after that until the end of the holiday (email lsh@hws.haringey.sch.uk and copy examquestions@hws.haringey.sch.uk)
2. During term time, outside of the busiest times, the exams officer aims to answer emails (unless the answers can be found on the school website) within two working days
3. During very busy times (September and April to June) it is important, when emailing Ms Short to copy in examquestions@hws.haringey.sch.uk and also recognise that replies may be delayed.
4. Outside of these times the exam questions email address is not monitored.

5 Collecting exam certificates

Collection of exam certificates is as follows:

1. By the end of November, a notification to all students of the cohort concerned will be sent by text message or email saying that certificates are ready for collection.
2. The student (not parent) should email lsh@hws.haringey.sch.uk to confirm a date and time that they are able to collect their certificates, for 6^th form they should copy the 6^th form team.
3. Students must attend at the arranged time at the Windrush office with photo Identification.
4. If someone else is collecting certificates on behalf of the student then an email must be sent from the student’s personal account confirming the name and relationship along with the date and time. The nominated person needs photo identification.
5. If a student wants certificates posted they must pay for recorded delivery on the online systems however we do not recommend this, nor do the exam boards.
6. Once certificates leave HWS they are no longer our responsibility.
7. It is important to recognise that collection of certificates is the responsibility of the student.
8. If a student does not follow the above procedure and request their certificates at a time other than this then the process of getting the certificates might take up to four weeks and we do not process any requests in the months of April, May or June.
9. The student is responsible also for keeping certificates safe. If a student loses a certificate then the school should not be contacted as we cannot help.  The exam board needs to be contacted via their website.  Also, if the exam was taken several years previously when the exam boards were different an internet search should be able to identify which exam board has these records.
10. Highgate Wood School does not necessarily keep records as to which exam board was historically used for a particular subject. An ex student in this position will need to conduct their own research on the internet.
11. We are obliged to keep exam certificates for only one year and after this we are expected, by the exam board, to destroy the exam certificates. When this happens ex-students will need to research, organise and pay for their own replacement directly with the exam board.

6 Community Languages

See: https://hws.haringey.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Community-Languages-procedure.pdf

Please note that we cannot guarantee being able to facilitate the spoken component of a language (apart from French and Spanish) though we will try.  We believe a good grade can still be obtained without this component.

Notes on A’ Level community languages

1. Students thinking about this and a member of the 6^th form team and ideally their parents must read and understand the expectations of the specifications for the course
2. Apart from French and Spanish we are highly unlikely to have the expertise at HWS to facilitate an A’ level in a language and students and parents should seek to do such a qualification outside of the school – we will of course authorise absences to do this
3. Knowing how to speak and write in the language is not sufficient
4. A lot of in-depth research is to be conducted for the writing and speaking exam (not all A Level have a speaking element – check the specifications)
5. It is highly recommended to have an A’ Level tutor or attend a language school on Saturdays or after school to prepare
6. You need to be aware of past and current economic, social and political affairs linked to the language undertaken 
7. There is a written response to works (literary texts) and a written response to works from films.  Students must write an extended response on either one or two of the literary texts listed in the specifications and film chosen. Prescribed literary texts and films are included in the specification.
8. For the speaking exam if there is one, (see note above) it demands an important chunk of personal work. It sometimes has a high percentage of the overall mark. You have an independent research to prepare for which no feedback can be given. This independent research main ideas and topic must be shared with the examiner so they can prepare the interview to be held with the student for the exam. All the information is on the specifications. Students have to have a tutor or go to a school to support how to navigate the expectations of that exam, we do not have the expertise in school to support with this except for the languages specified above. 

7 Access arrangements for exams

See: https://hws.haringey.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Access-arrangements-at-HWS-Parent-info.pdf

8Missing public exams

1. If a public exam is missed it cannot be re-sat in the same academic year and no such re-sits are offered in HWS
2. The only re-sits of public exams at HWS are for English and Maths GCSE and are strictly for students who are on roll at HWS at the time of the re-sit – in order to re-sit in other circumstances a centre that specialises is external candidates needs to be sought by the student / parent
3. A doctor’s note or hospital note must be provided for any missed exam
4. The exam board might (though it is at their discretion) average out the marks from the other papers that are sat in the subject as long as there is medical evidence for the absence
5. If a student arrives late then there is a risk that the exam board will give zero marks for that exam and this risk is higher if the student is very late

Appendices

Click here for the Enquiries About Results (EAR) and Access To Scripts (ATS) Candidate Consent Form

Post-results services (PRS), Deadlines, fees and charges

This information is taken from the JCQ PRS booklet summarising the services offered which are:

• Enquiries about results (EARs): Clerical check, review of original marking or original moderation
• Access to scripts (ATSs) : A copy or photocopy of the candidates script

EAR Service 1 (clerical re-check) only involves the exam board checking that marks have been added correctly etc, they do not re-mark the paper.

EAR Service 2 is a re-mark of the paper to see whether the grade given can be justified and amended if it can’t be justified.

EAR Priority service is only recommended if a University place depends on having a grade increased