Exams

The Exams Office is open 8.30 am to 3.30 pm during term time.

If you wish to contact the school’s Exams Officer, please do so via the main school telephone number 01727 854726 or exams@beaumont.school. If you have an appointment to visit the Exams Officer, please report to Reception on arrival.

Please note that the information on this page may relate to the current or the previous academic year, depending upon when dates and deadlines become available. If in doubt, please contact the Exams Office or the relevant Head of Year for clarification.

Beaumont School’s Centre Number is 17511, for use in completing examination forms.

A useful, one-page summary of guidance for taking formal exams, produced by JCQ (which oversees all public examinations) can be read here.

Internal Examinations: 2023 – 2024

Year 11 Mock Exams will take place from Wednesday 8th to Thursday 23rd November 2023. The overall timetable can be viewed here. Students will also receive personalised timetables, including details of any exam clashes.

Students should arrive at the exam venue at 8.30am for a morning exam and 1.15pm for an afternoon exam.

Students are advised to familiarise themselves with the requirements for written public examinations here.

Year 13 Mock Exams will take place from Monday 8th to Friday 19th January 2024 (with Art and Photography practicals the following week). The overall timetable can be viewed here. Students will also receive personalised timetables, including details of any exam clashes.

Students are advised to familiarise themselves with the requirements for written public examinations here.

Year 12 students take Threshold Exams in the second half of the Summer Term, from Monday 3rd to Friday 14th June 2024. The timetable will be published on this webpage and students will also receive personalised timetables, including details of any exam clashes, via their school email accounts.

Please note, any students studying at Consortium schools should be aware that mock examinations may take place at alternative times, and should check with their relevant subject teachers.

End of Year Exams for Years 7 to 9 will take place from 3rd to 7th June 2024.  End of Year Exams for Year 10 will take place from 29th April to 10th May 2024. Students will receive copies of their timetables over their Year Group Google Classrooms but a combined version (with tabs for each Year Group) will be published on this webpage.

A useful Revision Booklet, written by members of the Beaumont Teaching & Learning Team can be downloaded here.

A revision “micro-site” to help students in Years 7 – 10 prepare for their end of year exams can be found here. Please note that, until it has been finalised, it contains last year’s exam dates.

External Examinations: 2023 – 2024

The 2024 Summer Series of public examinations runs from 9th May to 19th June (GCSEs) / 25th June (‘A’ levels).  JCQ reserves Contingency Days, should the need for them arise.  These are 6th and 13th June (afternoons) and 26th June.

The general timetable for these exams can be downloaded here.

It is in the form of a Google Sheet, which candidates can download and edit in accordance with the subjects for which they are entered.  Candidates will receive individual timetables, including details of any clashes, in due course.

Unless otherwise stated on a candidate’s timetable, morning exams start at 8.45am, afternoon exams start at 1.30pm.

Candidates should arrive at the exam venue 15 minutes before the exam is start time.

A handbook of information for students taking external examinations (2023 version) can be viewed here.

The Ofqual Student Guide 2024 can be viewed here.

University Admissions Testing: Summer 2024

There are two STEP examinations: STEP 2 and STEP 3, each consisting of a 3 hour paper-based examination. Students are usually required to sit either one or both of the examinations, depending on the requirements of the universities they have applied to.

STEP Registration Deadline: 1st May 2024

Please come to the Exams Office to collect a registration form and make sure it is returned by the above date. Should you require any access arrangements, please discuss these as soon as possible so that the relevant planning can be undertaken.

There is a candidate registration fee of £93 per STEP paper.

Payment will be set up through your MCAS account.

Key Dates:

  • 5th June (morning): STEP Paper 2
  • 24th June (morning): STEP Paper 3
  • 15th August 2024: Results Released
  • 21st August 2024: Last Date for Results Enquiries

For further information please refer to the OCR website: https://www.ocr.org.uk/students/step-mathematics/

Results Days – Summer 2024

Exam results are issued to candidates at the Sixth Form Centre.

If a candidate wishes someone else to collect their results on their behalf, a letter from the candidate naming the person and photographic ID will be required. Also, a self-addressed and stamped envelope can be provided, so that the statement of results can be posted later on results day.

GCE A/S and ‘A’ level results will be issued 8.00 – 9.00 am on Thursday 15th August 2024.

A helpful infographic to guide students receiving their ‘A’ level results can be viewed here.

GCSE (and all other KS4 qualifications) results will be issued 9.00 – 10.00 am on Thursday 22nd August 2024.

Staff will be available on both days to offer advice and guidance to students. Mrs Curnow (our Herts Services for Young People, Personal Advisor) will be available on GCSE Results Day.

Post-Results Services

Please note that school documentation for Post-Results Services is issued with student results and is also available for each series below, and from the Exams Office during stated times. If you do not use the correct form for an exam service request it may not be possible for it to be processed due to a lack of the correct information.

Post-Results Services information for January 2024 series can be downloaded here. The Candidate Consent Form is available as an editable document here, and pdf here.

Completed forms should be returned to the Exams Office or by email (exams@beaumont.school), with payment being set up via MyChildAtSchool.

Post-Results Services are subject to deadlines set by the exam boards and are, therefore, not negotiable.

JCQ Notices to Candidates:2023-24

Students should familiarise themselves with the following information for candidates documentation and be fully aware of the expectations during examinations and assessments.

Reviews of Centre Marks

Candidates may request a review of the school’s marking of Non-Examination Assessment (NEA) in GCSE, GCE, BTEC, CTEC, CNAT and Project qualifications (including coursework and controlled assessment). If candidates are considering this option, they should discuss their result(s) with the relevant teacher and/or Head of Department and they may request copies of materials to assist them in making their decision. Requests for reviews must be made to the Exams Officer, using the form which can be downloaded here. There is a fee of £30 per review, to cover staffing and administrative costs, payable through My Child At School.

Please ensure that the individual components (papers or units) are clearly identified and listed separately on the paperwork submitted.

The final deadline for any requests for reviews in qualifications to be awarded in summer 2024 is 9.00am Wednesday 24th April 2024*.  Candidates should receive the outcome(s) of their review(s) by Friday 3rd May.

* Please note that this date does not apply to Art/Graphics/Textiles or Photography and P.E. because the exam board submission deadlines are different for these subjects. Please refer to information provided by the individual subject teachers or Heads of Department.

Please be aware that reviews can lead to marks going down as well as up.

Further information about Non-Examination Assessment can be found in the JCQ Notices to Candidates on this page.

Exam Access Arrangements (EAA)

Beaumont School follows the Access Arrangements procedures that are set in place by the regulator JCQ. We have a stringent system in place as follows:

Years 7 and 8: We build up evidence of need through teacher feedback and assessment. This means that students who may have had test arrangements in primary school will not automatically qualify for the same support until we build up our own evidence of need.

Year 9: We test the whole year group (during Autumn Term) for various speeds of working and begin to introduce students who are eligible for EAA to using this as their normal way of working.

Year 10: Applications for EAA are made by the school for GCSE (and other 16+ qualifications) . There is an information evening held for parents/carers who have children who have qualified for EAA.

Year 12: Applications for EAA are made by school for A-Level (and other 18+ qualifications).

A diagnosis of a disability does not automatically qualify for EAA, the student would still have to meet the criteria set by JCQ.

Private assessments are not accepted by JCQ and therefore Beaumont cannot accept these.

For extra time to be considered a student must have two below average scores or one below average score and one low average score in two different processing speeds during the testing in Year 9 by the qualified assessor at Beaumont.

Overview

Access Arrangements allow candidates/learners with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries to access the assessment without changing the demands of the assessment. These may involve readers, scribes and Braille question papers. In this way Awarding Bodies will comply with the duty of the Equality Act 2010 to make ‘reasonable adjustments’.

Reasonable Adjustments

The Equality Act 2010 requires an Awarding Body to make reasonable adjustments where a disabled person would be at a substantial disadvantage in undertaking an assessment.

A reasonable adjustment for a particular person may be unique to that individual and may not be included in the list of available Access Arrangements.

How reasonable the adjustment is applied will depend on a number of factors, including the needs of the disabled candidate/learner. An adjustment may not be considered reasonable if it involves unreasonable costs, timeframes or affects the security or integrity of the assessment.

There is no duty on the Awarding Bodies to make any adjustment to the assessment objectives being tested in an assessment.

For more information, please refer to the JCQ guidance, which can be downloaded here.

Special Consideration

Special Consideration is a post-examination adjustment to a candidate’s mark or grade to reflect temporary illness, temporary injury or some other event outside of the candidate’s control at the time of the assessment, which has had, or is reasonably likely to have had, a material effect on a candidate’s ability to take an assessment or demonstrate his or her normal level of attainment in an assessment.

You can download a copy of the JCQ document, A Guide to the Special Consideration Process 2022-2023 here.

Please notify the Examinations Officer, on the day of the examination, if you feel that an application for Special Consideration should be considered for submission.

A copy of the school’s Examinations & NEA Policy can be viewed here.

The Exams Office can be contacted by email via exams@beaumont.school and by telephone at 01727 732923 (with answer-phone).