We’ve had further discussions with the Department for Education (DfE) who confirmed on 5 January 2021 that schools and colleges can continue to offer vocational exams, ‘where they judge it right to do so’. The DfE guidance for schools and colleges is available to help manage this.

We know this is a challenging time for you and your students and we will work to support you whatever decisions you reach which will depend on the circumstances of each school or college.

Our priority is to ensure students are not disadvantaged. We know students and teachers have been working hard towards the January exams and many will want to take the opportunity to sit them.

If your students do not take our exams this January, there are options:

1. There may be an opportunity to take their assessment at a future date. If this is not possible due to arrangements still to be announced for this summer, we will work with the DfE and Ofqual to make sure they are treated fairly.
2. If students were going to certificate in January, we will award a grade to a student if there is enough evidence, to help them progress.

If exams don’t go ahead at your school or college, you can withdraw entries and we will refund you. We will continue to engage with the DfE and with the regulator Ofqual on the approach to awarding all qualifications this school year so students taking different qualifications are treated equally.

More time to submit coursework for Cambridge Nationals in January

We’d also like to confirm arrangements for submitting your students’ coursework for moderation. We encourage schools and colleges to submit completed coursework for January as soon as possible so we have evidence of your students’ work. To give you more time, we’re extending the 10 January submission deadline for Cambridge Nationals by an extra two weeks till 24 January 2021. This will impact on our results days this spring and we’ll provide an updated results timetable as soon as we can.

Thank you for your patience, flexibility and cooperation in these challenging times. We hope this gives you and your students the clarity you need to make decisions. We’d be grateful if you could pass this on to your students. We will provide regular updates in this fast moving situation. Above all, we will continue to support you through changes to assessment and exams in the coming months.