Dear Parents and Students,
We want to share with you the latest updates from the examination boards regarding the summer examinations.
We are pleased to inform you that the exam boards have officially confirmed their commitment to run examinations in Hong Kong this summer. There are, however, some key stipulations that you will need to be mindful of during this period to ensure that your son/daughter is able to satisfy the requirements to receive their qualifications.
Firstly, we are cognisant of the fact, as are the examination boards, that students could be affected by COVID-19 during the series. With this in mind, if a student misses an examination for a legitimate reason (such as COVID-19), they will be eligible to apply for special consideration, and as long as they have completed one component of a subject, such as an exam paper or coursework, for that phase of the qualification, an overall grade can be calculated for them.
Whilst this provides some assurance for the students, please note the exam boards’ stance that if a student fails to complete at least one component associated with a particular qualification at each level (i.e. AS or A2), a final qualification grade cannot be awarded. Consequently, the student would have to defer to the subsequent or a later series for that subject.
Please note that discussions are still ongoing in the UK with the Department for Education and Ofqual (the regulatory bodies) in relation to this, in order to establish possible contingencies. At present, there are no contingency measures for students who cannot complete at least one component for a particular qualification. Please be assured that we remain active in our efforts to address this, meeting weekly with exam board representatives and colleagues from schools across Hong Kong. We will continue to do so in the hope that circumstances change and will keep you informed when we have any further information to share.
Whilst we would encourage the students to make every effort to attend their examinations, especially in the instance where there is only one component available to them for their A2 qualification (Business/PE for example), we appreciate that the impact of COVID-19 remains a possibility.
Similar to existing measures, whereby parents are required to complete a mandatory Jotform to confirm that students will undertake daily Rapid Antigen Tests before coming into school, we would ask that you continue to adhere to this during the exam series. We do not expect students to take additional measures before attending their examinations that deviate from this. However, in the instance that your son/daughter tests positive for COVID-19, and is therefore unable to attend their examination, we would request that you email confirmation of this to [email protected] so that we can reach out to you and advise accordingly. You will also be expected to complete THIS declaration form in accordance with our existing measures. Additionally, as is a requirement for any form of absence during the examination series, we would require evidence to substantiate the absence. This evidence may then be used to support an application for special consideration.
We appreciate that this remains a challenging and stressful period for our students, though please know that we will continue to work to ensure that their commitments and achievements are fairly reflected this summer.
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or require further clarity regarding the circumstances.
We take this opportunity to wish the students every success in their examinations and commend them once more on their resilience and efforts to date.
Kind regards,
Peter Roberts
Deputy Head of Secondary (Academic)