Examinations

EXAM-Calendar 2025.pdf

NOTE TO PARENTS:

Contingency Days for the External Exams of Summer 2025

The awarding bodies have collectively agreed on a contingency day for several years now, which is always scheduled at the end of the GCSE, GCE AS, and A-level exam timetables.

The contingency days are in the event of national or significant local disruption to exams in the United Kingdom, being part of the awarding bodies’ standard contingency planning for exams.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, further resilience was needed within the exam timetables. A single contingency day was not felt to be sufficient if a national event or incident had a significant effect on the exam timetable. For example, summer exams could be affected by extremely high temperatures.

For the June 2025 exams, the awarding bodies have therefore introduced two additional half-day contingency sessions. These are on Wednesday, 11 June 2025, and Wednesday, 25 June 2025.

Candidates and parents should consider the contingency days and note Wednesday, 25 June 2025, as the final date when making their plans for the summer.

Candidates should be encouraged to remain available until Wednesday, 25 June 2025, should examinations need to be rescheduled. The awarding bodies have collectively agreed on a contingency day for several years now, which is always scheduled at the end of the GCSE, GCE AS and A-level exam timetables.

Information for candidates – coursework – 2024 – 2025:

Examination board from each subject can be accessed through PLS-KS4-Subjects Exam Boards and specification links and revision resources

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IFC-Coursework_Assessments_2024_FINAL.pdf

Information for candidates – non-examination assessments 2024 – 2025:

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IFC-NE_Assessments_2024_FINAL.pdf

Information for candidates – written exams 2024 – 2025:

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IFC-Written_Examinations_2024_FINAL.pdf

Preparing to sit exams:

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Preparing-to-sit-your-exams-2024_25.pdf

Information for Candidates - Social Media 2024:

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/JCQ-Social-Media-Infographic-v6.pdf

Coping with exam pressure:

It is normal to feel a bit worried about exams, but sometimes they can make you feel anxious or depressed. Find out how you can deal with exam stress. See below form more information on how to cope with exam stress:

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/young-person/coping-with-life/exam-stress/

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/children-and-young-adults/advice-for-parents/help-your-child-beat-exam-stress/

https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/school-college-and-work/school-college/exam-stress/

The key dates for your diary

GCSE results released to schools: Wednesday 20 August 2025

GCSE results day for students: Thursday 21 August 2025

Deadline to request a priority copy of the marked paper: Thursday 28 August 2025

Deadline to request a review of marking: Thursday 25 September 2025

What do I do if I’m unhappy about my results?

All inquiries about GCSE exams results must go to the exam board via Prendergast Ladywell’s Exams Office. There is a fee set by the individual Awarding Bodies for re-marks.

Please talk to your teacher or the Exams Office as soon as possible if you are unhappy with your exam results. The school will need to support any results inquiries with exam boards. You must do this within 2 weeks of getting your results and you may be charged a fee when you submit an appeal about your results to the exam board.

Please contact us by emailing: exams@prendergast-ladywell.com

If you have any other questions, please explore the other exam pages in this section or contact the Exams Office via exams@prendergast-ladywell.com

Find out more information about internal and external examinations here

Reasonable Adjustments and Special Considerations

We are committed to ensuring all students have fair and equal opportunities to achieve when undertaking assessments or exams on accredited courses.

The purpose of this policy is to provide staff and students with information about Prendergast Ladywell’s approach to making reasonable adjustments and applying for special considerations for exams or assessments on accredited courses.

Please read the policy before contacting the relevant department to discuss your needs:

Special-Consideration-Policy-2024-2025

Requesting assessment/exam arrangements

Students must speak to their teacher or get in touch with the Exams team at the start of the course to make sure that appropriate adjustments are arranged in time for the assessment/exam.

Due to deadlines set by awarding bodies for submitting requests for assessment/exam arrangements/adjustments, it is not possible to put in place assessment/exam arrangements/adjustments at short notice.

Special considerations

Special consideration can be applied after an assessment if there was a reason the student may have been disadvantaged during the assessment.

For example, special consideration could apply to a student who has temporarily experienced:

an illness or injury,
some other event outside of their control, and which has had or is likely to have had, a material effect on that student’s ability to take an assessment or demonstrate his or her level of attainment in an assessment.

Special consideration should not give the student an unfair advantage, nor should its use cause the user of the certificate to be misled regarding a student’s achievements. The student’s result must reflect his / her achievement in the assessment and not necessarily his / her potential ability.

Special consideration, if successful, may result in a small post-assessment adjustment to the mark of the student. The size of the adjustment will depend on the circumstances and reflect the difficulty faced by the student and will be applied by the awarding body based on their criteria.

Submitting applications for special consideration

Where a candidate or group of candidates is/are eligible for special consideration, applications will be submitted by the Prendergast Ladywell’s Exam Office to the relevant awarding body following the published processes in JCQ special considerations guidance or according to the relevant awarding body’s procedures. Evidence to support applications will be kept on file until after the publication of the results.

Staff and students should note that

where an assessment requires the student to demonstrate practical competence or where criteria must be met fully, or in the case of qualifications that confer a License to Practice, it may not be possible to apply special consideration in some circumstances,
for example for on-demand assessments, it may be more appropriate to offer the student an opportunity to take the assessment at a later date.

Contacts

Regarding questions about special considerations, and reasonable adjustments please contact the Exams Office by emailing exams@prendergast-ladywell.com

Centre-Emergency-Evacuation-Procedure-for-Examinations