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OCR_NEW_CMYK_FLAT_Jan2019
Supporting you through 2021/22

Hi Colleague

We hope you've had a good week; it's been lovely seeing the sun make an appearance! With the end of January now upon us, we're looking forward to the arrival of milder weather and lighter evenings.

Congratulations to all students on getting their Cambridge Nationals results this week. There's more information about the post-results services for your students here.

In this week's roundup:

  • advance information to support students revising for many GCSE, AS and A Level exams this summer will be available on our website on Monday 7 February. To help with your questions, we'll be running free subject-specific Q&A webinars in February
  • Ofqual published appeals statistics this week on the exceptional process last summer
  • if your school or college made entries for our Cambridge Nationals in the January 2022 exam series, results will now be released on 16/17 March 2022, instead of 9/10 March. We've updated our key dates spreadsheet with all the changes, including post-results dates
  • read about an exciting opportunity for Cambridge Nationals students to attend free online animation masterclasses with TeenTech, a charity that delivers programmes to support teenagers to gain science, technology and engineering skills
  • spotlight on...the Geography Subject Advisor team supporting you, and an opportunity for Geography teachers to book their place at the Geographical Association's Annual Conference
  • take a look at our new Cambridge Nationals in Child Development and Health & Social Care blogs: supporting students who are selective mutes, and a guest blog on teaching our Cambridge National in Health & Social Care to Year 9 students
  • as part of a new skills campaign, the Department for Education (DfE) has launched, for students aged 14-19, ‘Get the Jump’ which brings together, for the first time, all education and training choices for young people to help them get skills for life
  • some handy reminders:

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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Advance information for summer 2022 exams is coming
Students in an exam

The DfE has confirmed in their blog that Monday 7 February is the date for exam boards to publish advance information. You might like to read what Chief Regulator Jo Saxton said about advance information in a speech she gave last week at the Sixth Form Colleges' Association's conference.

What to expect from advance information

Advance information will be provided to support students revising for summer 2022 exams in the majority of AS, A Level, and GCSE subjects, as well as FSMQ and Core Maths. We'll email you on 7 February to let you know how to access advance information for your subject via our finder tool on our website.

In the meantime, here's what to expect from advance information, which is one of the measures to support teachers and students preparing for exams in summer 2022. Read our overview of measures here.

Supporting you with live Q&A webinars

To support you with advance information, we're offering free subject-specific Q&A webinars from 14-24 February. These will include an overview of your subject's advance information and you'll be able to have your questions answered by your Subject Advisor. Don't worry if you can't join the live webinars; we'll make the recordings available for you to watch on-demand. We'll also be publishing a series of subject-specific Q&A blogs on our website after the events.

Book your place

Register your students for a special programme of free animation activities!

We're excited to announce we've partnered with charity TeenTech to offer Cambridge National in Creative iMedia students, or those interested in a career in animation, the chance to attend a series of free, live masterclasses delivered by industry experts from film, television and gaming.

Students

The online events will be held during February and March and promise to be fun, engaging and provide real context to learning, helping young people understand more about careers and the way emerging technology is shaping all aspects of our lives.

Teachers should register their class/students via the 'book events' button below. If students and parents would like further information ahead of registering, please share the flyer with them.

Book events    Flyer for students and parents

Spotlight on...Geography
Mountain range

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 Shelley Monk, our Geography Subject Advisor. 

Shelley Monk

Shelley Monk"I joined OCR six years ago after teaching geography for 16 years. I've considerable experience in delivering GCSEs, IGCSEs and A Levels, as well as International Baccalaureate qualifications. I've led departments in secondary schools in the UK and internationally. I've eight years of experience as Head of Years 12 & 13, supporting students both pastorally and academically.

"Since being at OCR, I've worked to reform the GCSE, AS and A Level qualifications and I currently support teachers through the development of a variety of resources, the professional development programme and subject communications. Beyond this role, I'm clearly a geographer, as I love walking my dog, exploring distant places and finding new recipes to trial on family and friends."

️ To get in touch with Shelley, contact geography@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

OCR at the Geographical Association (GA) Annual Conference

Want to inspire the geographers of tomorrow? Join us at the GA's Annual Conference! We're excited to be sponsoring and exhibiting at the conference from Monday 11 to Wednesday 13 April. The first-ever hybrid event will include a range of online activities such as lectures, workshops, teacher-to-teacher sessions, as well as face-to-face field visits and more at the University of Surrey, Guildford.

We hope to see you there.

Book your place