12 January 2018

Dear Parent/Guardian,

I am contacting you to make you aware of a decision made by the exam regulator Ofqual in relation to the course being studied by your son/daughter. In the Autumn term there were concerns raised on a national scale about the NEA (Non Examined Assessment) aspect of the GCSE Computer Science courses. It was highlighted by exam boards and schools that there were elements of the task that could be accessed online or prepared for prior to completing classroom based assessments that could give an unfair advantage to some students over others.

The decision has therefore been made that nationally the grade achieved by students will be based solely on the examination performance of students in the summer examination series for 2018. So what does this mean for our students?

  • Although the NEA task will not contribute to student’s final grades it is still a requirement of the course and should be completed by students in school. This has been completed by the vast majority of students at Chorlton and our students have met the NEA requirements as outlined in the specification. Staff will still be required to send samples of the NEA to the exam board in May 2018 to show that students have completed the tasks in the required timeframe. We will continue to ensure that we comply with all the requirements of the AQA specification and the NEA task.
  • Students will now start revision and preparation for their summer examination in Computer Science which will form their final grade to be issued in the summer. To ensure students are fully prepared for this, staff will be putting together a series of purposeful lessons which will aim to deliver revision materials and content that will build confidence and enable success in the summer examination. This will include practising examination techniques and how to secure grades with each question type in the paper.
  • Students will complete further examination practice in lessons with ‘walking talking mocks’, and ‘walking talking marks’. These strategies aim to support students in understanding exam question formats and how to enable them to secure high marks based on exam paper mark schemes. Staff will continue to monitor students’ progress in this subject.   

Students will be able to attend additional revision sessions after school as outlined in the extra-curricular booklet, and where it can be arranged additional support sessions will be planned to help students with their exam preparations.

Whilst it is unfortunate that students NEA work will not count towards their grades, it is important that students have completed this and can demonstrate some of their learning in the examination element. We have been reassured that the format of examination papers for the summer series of exams (2018), and these will not be changed. This should hopefully help to reduce any anxiety around the exam. We would strongly encourage students however to continue to prepare for the examination independently as they would with other subjects they are studying. Students have access to GCSEPod (visit www.gcsepod.com/parents) where they can revise and prepare themselves on all aspects of the Computer Science course as this subject has been updated in recent months to meet the full content of the specification. Revision lists and additional session information available to students will be published in due course.

More information about the decision made by Ofqual can be found on their website (www.gov.uk/ofqual) and to support this letter we have also attached the statement issued to students from Ofqual in January 2018. Should you have any further requests for information regarding this matter, please don’t hesitate to contact myself at school where I will be happy to answer your enquiries.

 

Yours sincerely

Mr G Rayworth

Curriculum Leader Computing and Technology

Chorlton High School

Ofqual NEA Computer Science Letter (Students)


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