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OCR_NEW_CMYK_FLAT_Jan2019
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Hi everyone

This week marks the first week of the summer term for some, while many of you are coming to the end of your Easter break. We hope you've managed to enjoy the holidays coupled with the easing of some restrictions.

A quick reminder that the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) published detailed guidance for schools and colleges to support you in determining teacher assessed grades and help your students to progress this summer. Much of this guidance applies to our Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals as well but we’ve published our own dedicated guidance on determining Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals grades this summer. We’ve also published some further assessment and delivery guidance for vocational and technical qualifications (excluding Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals).

As part of our package of support materials, we’re publishing grading exemplars for you next week, with lots of examples of real student responses. We’re also rolling out more support and Q&A sessions for you. You can read more in the articles below.

Can you spare a few minutes to have your say on what we can learn from lockdown? Our colleagues at CEM (Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring) are doing research to find out more about how COVID-19 has affected teacher and student wellbeing in education and we would love to hear your thoughts.

We’ve been remembering HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh this week. In 1990, he opened Progress House, which is our Coventry office and we’ve got photos of that time to share with you. He was also Chancellor of Cambridge University for 35 years and OCR is part of the University. You can read more in our article below.

And finally, earlier this week some of you started celebrating Ramadan, the month of fasting. We would like to wish you and your families Ramadan Mubarak.

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Package of support for summer 2021 update
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The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) has published detailed guidance for schools and colleges to support you in delivering teacher assessed grades and to help your students to progress this summer.

Much of this guidance applies to our Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals as well but we’ve published our own dedicated guidance on determining Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals grades this summer.

To help guide you through the JCQ guidance for determining grades in summer 2021, we’ve produced a number of short videos in which our Subject Advisors outline the key points as a quick reference for you.

This full series of videos are divided into topics and include the Quality Assurance (QA) process, guidance on grading, using grade descriptors and reasonable adjustments, access and special considerations plus malpractice and results. And to get you up to speed, here’s a quick reminder of the key dates for teacher assessed grades.

As part of our package of support materials to help grading, grade descriptors have been published on our public website under the ‘Assessment’ tab for each subject.

We’ve also published performance data and marking exemplars alongside the additional assessment materials on the Grade Submission System.

From 19 April, we’ll publish OCR-specific examples of the grade descriptors on our Grade Submission System, using real student responses to past papers and non-exam assessment (NEA) where available. Please be aware that from 19 April, our additional assessment materials (without mark schemes) and grade descriptors will be available to students on our website.

Next week we’ll be sharing a roundtable video to answer your most frequently asked questions plus a series of live Q&A support webinars that will be available from 26 April. More details about these will be included in our Roundup on Friday 23 April.

Watch videos
Additional guidance for vocational and technical qualifications (excluding Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals)

Each vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) will be placed in a category; each category will have a different approach to awarding in 2021.

We've provided information on the categories our qualifications fall under below:
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Category A

Category A is for VTQs that assess occupational or professional competency, proficiency, or act as a licence to practise, where it would not be safe to award these qualifications using alternative evidence, such as teachers’ judgement.

Category B

Category B has different approaches to awarding but the common factor across these qualifications is that results may be determined using alternative approaches to awarding, including the use of teacher assessed grades (TAGs).

Find out more
Further guidance from Ofqual and the JCQ
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Ofqual and the JCQ have recently published several guidance and support documents and a tool which you might find useful.

There is an Explainer Tool from Ofqual for VTQs and other general qualifications which shows what is happening in the coming weeks and months for exams and assessments that were scheduled to be taken up to 31 August 2021.

It covers qualifications regulated by Ofqual, Qualifications Wales and CCEA Regulation (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland respectively).

You can search, select your qualification and find out the arrangements being put in place by awarding organisations to assess and issue a result for that qualification.

The JCQ has also produced a useful document aimed at students and their parents/carers which provides an overview of the most important information that they need to know about how grades will be awarded this summer. This includes a timeline of what is happening and when; how teachers, schools and colleges will determine their grades; and when they will receive their results. You might wish to include this link in your students and parent communications.

Explainer tool   JCQ student and parent guide
Learning the lockdown lesson research programme

Our colleagues at CEM (Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring) are inviting you to get involved in some research to help them measure the impact COVID-19 has had on student progress and teacher wellbeing.

To help them in their research they’re recruiting teachers from state, independent and free school across the UK to help them discover:
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  • What has been the impact of lockdown on students’ approaches to learning?
  • How has the last year affected teacher wellbeing?
  • What approaches have worked for students in ways we didn’t expect?
  • What different approaches do we need to think about for the future?

By surveying a representative sample of students and teachers from right across the UK, we will build an accurate picture of the effects of COVID-19 on student and teacher wellbeing.

Findings will be published when the project closes in June – and will be open to all – those that participate will get the results before they are published.

Register your interest
OCR West Midlands Bursary Award
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Are you based in the West Midlands?  Do you have students who are applying to the University of Cambridge who would be eligible for a bursary?

Applications for our bursary scheme are open. We have run a bursary scheme supporting students from schools and colleges in the West Midlands at Cambridge University since 2004.

The scheme provides bursaries of £3,000 per year to students from West Midlands, for the lifetime of their undergraduate studies.

It is awarded to around ten new first year students each year to provide additional financial support to help them make the most of their studies at Cambridge.

The fund for the scheme comes from our historical association with the West Midlands Examinations Board.

Applying for an OCR Bursary for 2021/22

Applications for the bursary scheme for 2021/22 are now open.
The closing date for applications is Tuesday 4 May 2021. Selection and provisional offers will take place at the end of June 2021 and applicants will be notified of the final decision in August 2021 when places at the University of Cambridge have been confirmed. Please apply!

Bursary Scheme
Commemorating HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh 1921 - 2021

This week we remember HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh on the eve of his funeral. Prince Philip has done so much for young people through his Duke of Edinburgh award and Youth Training Scheme. 

He was also the Chancellor of the University of Cambridge for 35 years and president of the RSA and it was this connection that led to him being invited to officially open the our new Coventry base, Progress House in October 1990. RSA Examinations later became part of OCR.

Read more
HRH Prince Philip opening Progress House

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