Information: increased fraud risk during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
Periods of instability, such as during the coronavirus pandemic, bring an increased risk of fraud. Fraudsters will actively exploit these difficult times and will target vulnerable areas for financial gain.
We have been informed some learners and parents have received a letter from ESFA asking for personal learner bank details in relation to the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund. We never ask for personal bank account details. This is a fraudulent letter – please do not respond.
Update from the Principal – 14th April 2020
Dear Parents and Carers.
Thank you for your patience over the last few weeks. We have finally received more specific information from the exam boards about grade allocation for vocational qualifications. The information is pretty much the same as it was for GCSEs and A Levels. However, grading will be more individualised as each course is different, made up of multiple units and assessed in different ways.
Teachers will be asked to draw on a range of evidence from the past 2 or 3 years and make a judgement about the grade each learner would most likely have achieved had they been able to complete their assessments in summer 2020.
Ofqual, the exams regulator, has made it clear that teachers will not be permitted to discuss with you the grading process or the grades we submit to the exam boards. This is because our judgements will be subject to some kind of moderation process. However, we can tell you that the final grades will be ‘calculated grades’, a mix of completed work and partially completed units and your process across the course.
Please find the link below if you wish to read a more detailed account
https://www.gov.uk/
Sarah Jones
Principal.
Urgent Update – 03/04/2020
Dear parents and carers
I understand how unsettling the past weeks have been for you, since the announcement that exams have been cancelled this summer, and that you are urgently waiting for news. The exams regulator, Ofqual has this morning published some further clarification on how this year’s examination results will be calculated. We have sent to all Y11 and Y13 parents the letter that has been written by Ofqual explaining the details.
This letter explains how grades will be calculated. Tavistock College will be asked to send exam boards two pieces of information for each subject where a grade was expected. This information will be based on what teachers know about each student’s work and achievements. This information will be:
• The grade teachers believe students were most likely to get if teaching, learning and exams had happened as planned. Teachers will consider a range of things like classwork and homework; results in assignments and any mock exams; any non-exam assessment or coursework completed; and each student’s general progress during the course.
• The order of students at the school by performance, for each grade, for each subject. This information will be used to standardise judgements, allowing fine tuning of the standard applied across all schools and colleges in England. The final grade students get could be different from the ones we send to the exam boards due to this standardisation process.
Students and parents will not be allowed to see the grade that has been submitted to the exam boards as Ofqual have instructed us that this is confidential. Please do not send requests or ask teachers to tell you the grades they will be sending to the exam boards or where they have placed your child in the order of students: they will not be allowed to share this with you.
Final results are expected in August, although this date has yet to be published. Students and parents that are dissatisfied with the grades when they are release can ask for an alternative examination date to sit an examination. This could be in the Autumn term 2020 or the summer term 2021.
There is a link below that will take you to the detailed document published today by Ofqual should you have further questions, or want to read guidance in more detail.
Thank you for your patience in this matter, and for all your support
Sarah Jones
Principal
