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Supporting you through 2021/22

Hi Colleague

We hope you're keeping well.

In this week's short roundup:

  • our autumn 2020 GCSE, AS and A Level exam papers and mark schemes are now available to download from our public website
  • advance information to support students revising for GCSE, AS and A Level exams this summer is to be made available by 7 February. Here's what to expect. After advance information has been published, we'll be helping you with support such as online Q&A sessions
  • January 2022 moderation for Cambridge Nationals: you should now have submitted your marks and received your sample requests. More information here
  • a handy reminder: take a look at our summary of all the 2021/22 adaptations for Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals
  • want to know more about our redeveloped Cambridge Nationals? Join our free, online showcase events to learn more about the resources and support available and meet like-minded colleagues in your region
  • spotlight on...meet the Business and Economics Subject Advisor team supporting you
  • interested in the future of assessment? Our CEO Jill Duffy will be speaking on the topic at the Westminster Education Forum on 24 February. Plus, our colleagues in the Assessment Network are running a free seminar on the topic next week
  • Ofqual's consultation on designing and developing accessible assessments closes on Monday 24 January.

We hope the January exams went as smoothly as possible for you and your students. We look forward to releasing Cambridge Nationals results from November 2021 next week. Good luck to your students getting their results.

If you have any questions or need support at any time, remember to check out our dedicated supporting you pages, our range of FAQs, and don't hesitate to get in touch if you need more advice.

Best wishes

OCR
01223 553998 | support@ocr.org.uk | Twitter | View back issues of the weekly roundup
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Autumn 2020 GCSE, AS and A Level papers now on www.ocr.org.uk
Students in an exam

In line with other Joint Council for Qualification (JCQ) exam boards, autumn 2020 GCSE, AS and A Level exam papers and mark schemes were made available on our public website this week. This joint decision aims to better support all students preparing for mocks and exams this year. 

This includes supporting private candidates such as home educated students and those re-taking qualifications after leaving school or college. The exam boards have worked together to ensure consistency for teachers and students.

After giving teachers at least 12 months’ access to the autumn 2020 papers via Interchange, our papers and mark schemes have now been published via the qualification pages via the ‘assessment’ tab and on our past paper finder as usual.

Please note that where question papers were not actually used in the November series, the front covers will say June 2020. This mainly affects AS Level past papers in fewer than ten subjects.

Find past papers

New: Autumn 2021 past papers on Interchange

Once students sit exams, we make the papers available on Interchange 2–10 days after the exams take place. Where there are no entries, we don't normally make these papers available. However, we know it's helpful for you to have papers available on our secure site. Therefore, for the autumn 2021 exams where there were no entries, we confirm we'll be adding these question papers to Interchange. You'll be able to download them from 21 January.
2021/22 adaptations for Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals

In last week's roundup, we provided this link to the adaptations to GCSE, AS and A Level exams for summer 2022. Just as a reminder, you can find a summary of all adaptations available for our Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals in 2021/22, including the reduction in the number of assessments and unit level adaptations for each qualification.
Students in class

You can see all these adaptations on the ‘Changes for 2022’ link on each individual qualification page or an overview of the adaptations at the link below.

Discover more
Showcase events for our redeveloped Cambridge Nationals – bookings now open
Teacher in a webinar

Want to know more about our redeveloped Cambridge Nationals?

Take the first step towards inspiring your students to develop real-world skills for their future, book your place on one of our free, online regional showcases today!

During the events, you'll have the opportunity to:

  • discover more about the approved specification
  • hear all about the support, textbooks and resources available now and in the future
  • have your questions answered by our Subject Experts
  • meet like-minded colleagues in your region.

Included on the key stage 4 performance tables for England, our Cambridge Nationals are practical, accessible, fun to teach and exciting to learn.

Book your place
Spotlight on...

Each week, we'll be introducing you to members of our Subject Advisor team, who are there to help you deliver and assess our qualifications. This week, meet Debbie Malpas and Matt Dilley, our Business and Economics Subject Advisors.
Business student

Debbie Malpas

Debbie Malpas

"Since joining OCR in 2014, I've worked on the redevelopment of our GCSE Business and the new Cambridge National in Enterprise and Marketing. I support teachers through the development of resources, the professional development programme and subject communications.

"I've over 20 years of experience in teaching and leadership roles, having worked in secondary schools, a sixth form college and an international school. I have a degree in Business Operations and a PGCE in Secondary Economics & Business. In my spare time, I enjoy visiting family and friends in the Midlands and Bristol."

Matt Dilley 

Matt Dilley

"I joined the OCR Business and Economics team in April 2020, supporting teachers to deliver our qualifications. I have a degree in Accountancy with a focus on Financial Accounting. My work experience includes commercial banking and 12 years teaching Business Studies and Economics as a faculty lead.

"Outside of work I'm is a keen cyclist and support the mighty Aston Villa."

✉️ To get in touch with the Business and Economics team, contact business@ocr.org.uk and follow us on Twitter.

Supporting our teachers

Our Subject Advisors offer a personal and specific point of contact for new and existing teachers to discuss qualification delivery and assessment queries or the support you'd like to receive in the future. We regularly share subject-specific blogs, newsletters, videos, guides and more. To find out how we're supporting you, visit our dedicated webpage.

To find any subject-specific advisor, or if you're considering switching to OCR and would like to know more about the support and guidance we can offer, please contact us.

Supporting you

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