CV&CC Update Tuesday 19th January 2021. Exams Latest
CV&CC Update
Tuesday 19th January
Remote Education
A separate document about our provision and expectations will be issued to parents and carers this week, and will be placed on the website. This conforms to a requirement from the government, but is something we are happy to do.
Exams Consultation from Ofqual
The Department for Education (DfE) are very keen that as many people as possible respond to Ofqual’s consultation about awarding grades in the absence of exams this summer. The consultation is quite extensive, with 68 questions, but it is not compulsory to answer them all ! If you are interested in responding, the link is as follows:
The key points about the suggested process are that:
- Grades will be based on teacher/centre assessment. Exam boards will provide advice on a standardised approach between schools, what evidence should be collected, and how schools should quality assure internally. Grades will be submitted as late as possible to maximise the time for catch-up teaching and ongoing assessment.
- Teacher assessment will be based on the current, ongoing performance of students; rather than a hypothetical prediction of what students may have got had exams run as normal; or what students would have got had the pandemic not disrupted their learning. It’s not clear how evidence will translate into a grade.
- Exam boards may provide some external assessment tasks, which would be based on exam paper questions. DfE and Ofqual are consulting on whether these should be mandatory or not, whether teachers could set their own assessments instead, the percentage of the course that the tasks should cover, and the timing of the external assessment.
- Schools and colleges will be expected to provide internal quality assurance, with support and advice from the exam boards.
- Exams will also provide external quality assurance, both during the process of determining grades, and once grades are submitted. If the exam boards are satisfied with the internal quality assurance of a school’s or college’s judgement, it is unlikely to change grades. A formula or algorithm will not be used to standardise results.
- Private candidates will be included in the process, and the consultation asks what the best way to do this is. This may include private candidates being entered centrally by the exam boards.
- Students will have the right to appeal grades, which is currently being proposed as being led by schools and colleges in the first instance, before being escalated to exam boards.
There are questions and concerns about what evidence schools should be collecting, how this will be standardised within and between schools, and how this will translate into a grade. It is not clear whether external assessment will be compulsory, what form it will take or how it will be marked.
Consultation on VTQs and other general qualifications
DfE and Ofqual are running a simultaneous consultation on vocational and technical qualifications (including BTECs and Cambridge Nationals). The broad principles are:
- For exam-based assessment in VTQs, the same approach should be applied as is confirmed for GCSEs and A levels
- Non-exam assessment should continue whether possible, although candidates should not be disadvantaged if they are unable to complete NEA due to Covid-19
- The Extended Extraordinary Framework already gives exam boards a lot of scope in how to change the assessment of VTQs; this continues.
- Because VTQ exams happen throughout the year, with different dates of certification, no candidate will be penalised whether or not they were able to sit an exam. All candidates expecting certification in 2021 should be able to receive a grade.
Lateral Flow Testing:
We continue with LFT screening once a week for all students and members of staff on site. Students joining Keyworkers’ & Vulnerable (KWV) provision for the first time will be tested twice, 3-4 days apart as per government guidance. We must have parental permission to do this: whether KWV or not, please return these (there is a choice for withholding permission). Here is the link to the form: Student Consent form for Covid-19 testing, and you can find the accompanying letter and Privacy Notice on our website, at https://www.clystvale.org/c19/
Late News: it is expected that the government will advise schools to not use LFT for daily testing to allow close contacts of students testing positive to remain in school. It seems that the weekly screening can continue.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/19/ministers-set-to-halt-plans-for-daily-covid-tests-in-english-schools
Situation Update
Staff absence still remains very low: with the national lockdown, four clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) staff are shielding but able to work from home. We have no positive cases among staff at present, or any colleague self-isolating.
Before Christmas 12 students tested positive for covid, as well as 31 family/household members. Over the holiday we were informed of 2 further students testing positive. Since the start of term there has been 1 (one) student with a positive result and 4 family/household members. Please keep informing us of any positive tests, even it seems daft because you are in lockdown !
Local Rates
Locally to us, numbers of cases have increased a little in the past week but remain below national averages. According to the NEU covid map for schools, in the last week East Devon has risen slightly from 253 to 259 cases per 100,000, and the BBC gives 226 cases; Broadclyst, Cranbrook, Stoke Canon and area has increased from 232 to 253/100,000; Exeter is up from 285 to 297/100,000 (NEU) or 252 (BBC), and Pinhoe and area has increased a little to 241. The national average for the BBC figures is 432/100,000 which is a large decrease on last week’s 553.
Keyworkers’ and Vulnerable Children
(It seems that “KWV” is increasingly becoming known as “CWV” for “Critical Workers”)
The link for CWV definitions is:
Free School Meals
We will be joining the Department for Education’s Edenred voucher scheme this week. Until this happens we will continue with the Voucher Express Scheme. (Cold) FSM are being provided in College to KWV students. If you have any queries about FSM, please e-mail
Key Points to Remember, please
- Please do not send your child to school if they have covid symptoms.
- Please do not send your child to school if they have had symptoms and are waiting for a test result even if they seem better.
- If any member of a household has symptoms, everyone must stay away from school or work until the test result is known. If positive, everyone must isolate for 10 days from the start of symptoms or 10 days from the test date if there were no symptoms.
- Please tell us [student absence; AtHoS] if your child or household member has symptoms; test dates and results; dates you have been given for a return to school. This applies even if your child is not attending College.
- Please use the number above for reporting an “out-of-hours” positive test result.
- Students should wear masks at all times unless exempt. Except lessons, when actually eating/drinking, and if outside AND at 1m+ distance from one another.
