Progress is our Success

Exams

GCSEs, or General Certificates of Secondary Education, are examinations in specific subjects sat at the end of Year 11. All students need to be aiming for passes in at least five subjects including English Language and Maths as this will be expected by many employers and post-16 education providers.

In 2016 the grading system changed so the familiar A*-G was replaced with the numbers 9-1. A 4 is a pass (the equivalent to a C) and 9, 8 and 7 have replaced A*-A. Being awarded a 9 is seen as the equivalent to an A**.

 

Exam Boards

Exam boards are responsible for organising, setting, marking, and distributing exams. There are five of them in England, Northern Ireland and Wales:

  • AQA

  • OCR

  • Edexcel

​SVS choose a different exam board for each subject and they will all produce slightly different papers. They are regulated by OFQUAL to make sure they are all the same standards and have the necessary material in them.

Students will be made aware of which exam boards they are sitting for each subject. Each board has their own website, these are all user-friendly and will have the exam dates on there when they are released, and any extra details students may need to know about the exams.

 

The 2024 GCSE Results data shows that:

5% of the internal entries achieved the passing grade 4

  • one in Math

  • one in Combined Science 

​​While 95% achieving ≤ 3 grade

  • All English and Citizenship entries attained ≤ 3 grade (refer to Table 2 below)

  • All but one entry in Math and Combined Science attained ≤ 3 grade

With reference to distance travelled i.e., predicted grade vs actual GCSE results

Combined Science performed well with 60% achieving 2pts greater than the predicted grade. The only subject that managed to achieve this 2pts leap.

  • English achieved 50% 1pt-greater-than the predicted grade followed by 45% Citizenship and 40% Math.

  • However, 20% of English grades were 2pts lesser than the predicted grade and the same case with science with 10% of science grades being 2pts lesser than the predicted grade.​

 

It is important to note that most students attending/arriving at the school have missed out a significant amount of formal education. In some cases, this has been for a considerable amount of time, resulting in significant gaps in their attainment, knowledge, and skills. SVS as a matter of policy ensures that all our pupils will leave with qualification and a secure progression route.

Pupils that started late with us were entered for Functional Skills qualifications in English and Math.

​​This Revision help and support PowerPoint has been created by the students council