Public Exam Results 2021

A LEVEL AND GCSE RESULTS AND APPEALS: INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS

This dedicated student information page offers A Level and GCSE results guidance and support about:

• When and how to access your A Level / GCSE results
• What to do if you want to talk to somebody at school after you receive your results
• What to do if you are unhappy with one or more of your grades

What are the key dates?

• Monday 9th August: Year 11 and Year 13 students will receive a document containing the marks and grade equivalents awarded for the evidence included in our grade decisions for each subject, details of any variations to that core evidence, and details of how we have taken adverse circumstances and requests for special consideration into account.
• Tuesday 10th August: A Level, AS Level & EPQ results will be issued.
• Thursday 12th August: GCSE results will be issued.

When and how do I access my grades?

Results will be issued electronically. Girls will be able to view their results on MySchoolPortal from 8.00am on Tuesday 10th August (for A Level, AS Level and EPQ) and Thursday 12th August (for GCSEs and IGCSEs). Parents will be sent a SchooPost message to prompt the students to check MySchoolPortal for this information.

How do I access my grades through MySchoolPortal

• Use the Microsoft option to login to My School Portal with your school email address and password.
• Public Examination Results can be found under the My Information Tab as indicated.

What do I do if I want to talk to somebody at school after I get my results?

If you want to talk to somebody at school then please contact Ms Whitaker via steph.whitaker@sthelens.london with a brief explanation of your needs. She will contact you to arrange an appointment with the most appropriate person to help you. If you contact us on results day we will try to schedule the appointment for later the same day, but please note that we must prioritise appointments for students who need help or advice with transitioning to the next stage of their education.

What should I do if I don’t get into my first choice of university? [For Year 13]

• Don’t panic. Contact Ms Whitaker by email with a brief explanation. She will contact you to arrange an urgent appointment with Mrs Williams, Miss McKinley or any member of the Futures team who will be happy to discuss your options.
• You may have been offered a place at your Insurance university, and you may wish to accept this.
• You may wish to go through Clearing, or sit the autumn exams or summer exams next year to try to improve your grade.
• If you are going to appeal your grade, you must let your university know you are appealing. They will then let you know whether they will hold a place for you pending the outcome of an appeal (note that universities are not obliged to hold a place for you; this is at their discretion).

What should I do if I want to change my A Level choices, or try to improve my GCSE grades? [For Year 11]

Contact Ms Whitaker by email with a brief explanation. She will contact you as soon as possible to arrange an appointment with Mrs Williams, Mr Bulman or another member of the Sixth Form team to discuss your options. We hope that most appointments requested on 12th August can be arranged for later the same day. You may wish to change your A Level choices, or sit the autumn exams to try to improve your grade. You can also appeal against your grade, although this is unlikely to be fully resolved by the beginning of term.

What do I do if I am not happy with my grade(s)?

• If you think that one or more of your grades are wrong, then you have the right to appeal. There will be no charge for this service. It is important to note that your grade may be lowered, raised or left unchanged as a result of any appeal and that once a decision has been reached about your appeal you may not withdraw your appeal if you do not like the outcome. This means that if you put in an appeal and the grade is lowered, you will receive the lower grade.
• There is also the option to re-sit GCSEs, A Levels and some AS levels in the autumn, which may be preferable to some students. The design, content and assessment of these papers will be the same as in a normal year.

What key documents do I need to consult to help me decide whether to appeal?

• The JCQ Guidance for Students and Parents JCQ-Guidance-for-Students-and-Parents-on-Summer-2021.pdf
• The St Helen’s Guide to Appeals 2021 (which was initially sent to you via SchoolPost on 9th July) can be found here
• The School’s Centre Policy for A/AS Levels, GCSEs and IGCSEs for Summer 2021 is here
• The Appeal Form which you must use is here
• Please also refer to your personalised Teacher Assessed Grade marksheet, which was sent via SchoolPost to your school email address on Monday 9th August.

How do I appeal?

• Follow the process outlined in the St Helen’s Guide to Appeals 2021.
• Complete the appropriate section of the Appeals Form.
• Sign the Appeals Form and send it to appeals@sthelens.london. You can sign the Appeals form by:
• Inserting your normal signature electronically; or
• Digitally signing the document by typing your name and sending it via your school email account so that we can authenticate that the appeal came from you.

What are the grounds for appeal?

There are five main grounds for appeal, as announced by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). They are:

• You think we have made an administrative error: an example of this would be putting the wrong information into a spreadsheet.
• You think we have made a procedural error: this means we haven’t properly followed our own process, as approved by the exam board. An example of this would be where you’ve been told you should have received extra time for assessments but this wasn’t given in a certain subject.
• You think the academic judgement on the selection of evidence was unreasonable: you think the evidence used to grade you was not reasonable.
• You think the academic judgement on the grade you were given was unreasonable.
• You think that the awarding organisation (the exam board) has made an administrative error.

What is a priority appeal?

• Priority appeals will be handled more quickly than other appeals, where possible before UCAS’s advisory deadline of 8 September.
• Priority appeals are only open to A Level students starting university this autumn, who have missed out on the conditions of their firm offer. If you are in this position and are going to appeal your grade, you must let your university know you are appealing. They will then let you know whether they will hold a place for you pending the outcome of an appeal.
• If you decide not to confirm a firm conditional offer and to go through Clearing instead, JCQ cannot offer you a priority appeal.
• Unfortunately, JCQ cannot offer priority appeals for GCSE students.
• When making a priority appeal, students will have to include their UCAS number so it can be confirmed that it is a genuine priority appeal.

What are the stages of appeal?

• There are three stages to the Appeals process. Each stage must be fully completed before proceeding to the next stage.
• Stage One is a Centre Review. At this stage, we will check for any administrative errors, and check that our policies and procedures were followed correctly. Our policy has already been approved by the exam boards, so we are only ensuring that we followed this properly.
• Stage Two is an Awarding Organisation Appeal. At this stage we will send your appeal and all supporting evidence and documentation to the examination board for them to review.
• At Stage Three you may apply for a procedural review to the Exam Procedures Review Service. The exam board will tell you how to do this.

What are the deadlines for priority appeals?

The suggested deadline for requesting a priority appeal is 16 August (students cannot appeal before results day on 10 August). Year 13 students can request a priority appeal if they have missed their firm or insurance offer and the university has not confirmed their place. If you are a Year 13 student and your preferred university has confirmed your place, then you are not eligible for a priority appeal.

We will attempt to complete the Centre Review by 20 August for priority appeals. If students wish to progress this to an Awarding Organisation Appeal, they must send the completed form to us by 9.00am on Wednesday 21st August for priority appeals so that we can meet the JCQ deadline of 23rd August on your behalf.

What are the deadlines for non-priority appeals?

Non-priority appeals are any A levels, GCSEs or EPQs, where a firm or insurance university place is not pending. The deadline for submitting a centre review is 3 September. If students wish to make a non-priority Awarding Organisation Appeal, they must send the completed form to us by 9.00am on Wednesday 15th September, so that we can meet the JCQ deadline of 17th September on your behalf.

Appeals received after these dates may still be considered.