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Do i have to redo my practical endorsement if i'm resitting Y13?

what do you mean i won't get funding? and repay for what? my school isn't making pay for anything and they can't this year anyway and funding isn't an issue but got an update which that I may have to provide evidence that i've done the PAGs to check that i wrote them up yeah idk how i'm going to do that for Chemistry so RIP (i can do that for physics though). HoS said don't worry about it and that i'll get an email once they get a final response from OCR as to whether i need to redo them or not... Looks like i'll be doing the PAGs until i get a verdict.

Schools get funding from central government for the students they teach and it is this that is used to pay staff wages, heating bills, exam entry fees etc. How the funding works is quite complicated (to do with your age, whether or not you have completed Level 3 qualifications etc) but they probably aren't getting any money for teaching you. Even if they are it will be £800 less than someone who is under 18. On an occasional basis this is possible but they can't afford to do it very much so appreciate that they've let you.

Teachers generally know very little about the mechanics of exam entries. It might be worth sending them this, which is pretty clear. https://www.ocr.org.uk/administration/general-qualifications/entries-and-registrations/entry-rules/ As I've said before, the change in entry code is just changing the letter from an A to a C at the end. Link to the Autumn entry codes book: https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/633196-general-qualification-entry-codes-autumn-2021.pdf

OP

Original post by EOData

Schools get funding from central government for the students they teach and it is this that is used to pay staff wages, heating bills, exam entry fees etc. How the funding works is quite complicated (to do with your age, whether or not you have completed Level 3 qualifications etc) but they probably aren't getting any money for teaching you. Even if they are it will be £800 less than someone who is under 18. On an occasional basis this is possible but they can't afford to do it very much so appreciate that they've let you.

Teachers generally know very little about the mechanics of exam entries. It might be worth sending them this, which is pretty clear. https://www.ocr.org.uk/administration/general-qualifications/entries-and-registrations/entry-rules/ As I've said before, the change in entry code is just changing the letter from an A to a C at the end. Link to the Autumn entry codes book: https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/633196-general-qualification-entry-codes-autumn-2021.pdf

I'm not doing the autumn Exams and year I'm aware of the fact that resit students are financially "bad" for the school but yeah may send them this. I like my school (way better than my old one to the point where I kind of get annoyed when I see pupils here complain about the school) but I just think that the communication is poor and last minute.com that's it. The only issue is that OCR are apparently "looking into my case" so idk if that link is going to do anything.

OP

2 weeks later still no update from OCR, I bet that they're going to hit me with a lastminute.com and not tell me until like Christmas at the earliest, Brilliant. I just rather revise content than worry about PAGs man 😫. OCR :stink:

OP

6 weeks later and just spoke with the exams officer and they will get in contact with the exam board. That link makes it clear that: Candidates who are retaking the qualification and who want to carry forward their result, should be entered for the carry forward option.

So I think that as you say @EOData the school doesn't exactly know what they are doing. Don't understand why OCR are "looking into my case" then. Poor communication 101 from OCR and the school.

Reply 24

EOData

16

Original post by Talkative Toad

6 weeks later and just spoke with the exams officer and they will get in contact with the exam board. That link makes it clear that: Candidates who are retaking the qualification and who want to carry forward their result, should be entered for the carry forward option.

So I think that as you say @EOData the school doesn't exactly know what they are doing. Don't understand why OCR are "looking into my case" then. Poor communication 101 from OCR and the school.

I hope you get a definite answer from then soon, but I am sure you can carry forward the pass. I'm surprised at OCR, they're normally very reliable but sadly exams officers are a mixed bunch - many schools see it as just a little admin job and pay accordingly and that means 30% of them leave every year so there are always lots of them who haven't worked out what they're doing yet and maybe never will.

OP

Original post by EOData

I hope you get a definite answer from then soon, but I am sure you can carry forward the pass. I'm surprised at OCR, they're normally very reliable but sadly exams officers are a mixed bunch - many schools see it as just a little admin job and pay accordingly and that means 30% of them leave every year so there are always lots of them who haven't worked out what they're doing yet and maybe never will.

yeah, the school's communication is probably the worst communication i've ever seen from a school like wow it's terrible in all forms for such a good school.

Yeah thanks for all of your help and i'm going to send that second link to the exams officer because OCR and the science department are just not giving clear answers after like 6 weeks (i thought that you weren't allowed to discriminate against Qualifications earned in 2020-2021 (from an academic point of view) but meh). I didn't speak to the exams officer about this situation until today so it's more the Chemistry/science department and OCR (mainly) that's the issue as opposed to the exams officer.

Apparently also "depends on what the head of Chem thinks" according to one of my chem teachers in regards to knowing what i do about the Y12 PAGs or maybe i could "carry them forward" (so they are saying that i could maybe carry forward the Y12 PAGs but not the final grade/everything? bro where's the consistency?). Yep you are correct, the teachers don't know what the heck they are doing with this PAGs nonsense. Hopefully i can get a clear yes/no answer. May update once i get an answer. Got 2 chemistry PAGs to do soon so that's great...

edit: i'm not doing the autumn exams so idk if that bit actually applies to me but the logic should be the same as you say?

(edited 2 years ago)

OP

i frankly don't care about failing the practical endorsement but if i've already passed then you know, it would be nice for me to keep that pass without me having to "prove" that i deserve it (doing the PAGs again, writing them up etc), useless for physics especially, whereby i've got the stuff i did written up in full pretty much (can easily show the evidence). Obviously doing the practicals is still incredibly useful as you'll be assessed on them in the exams but yeah.

OP

Shouldn't be bumping this old thread but physics teacher (they are not the head of physics) seems to be disputing the idea that I can carry forward that pass (they want the stuff ticked off and "doesn't know" whether the practical endorsement can be carried forward or not (I said that JCQ allows the pass to be carried forward)). Told EO whether I can carry forward that pass a few weeks ago because OCR and JCQ clearly say that you can, EO said to ask your teachers/that's up to your teachers. School is clueless. How are they not bothering to be aware of this kind of thing? (Why am I having to be the one to check this stuff because the school/OCR originally are being too slow on this?), still haven't got any kind of formal confirmation from the school that the pass will be carried over.

I don't mind redoing the PAGs (some of them I didn't even get to do last year because of COVID) and writing them up, my issue is not knowing whether the school are going to carry those passes over or not. Put on my UCAS that I passed too and that unis want those passes in the practical endorsement, I can't lie about this. I'm not stressed by this but just nah man I need an answer from the school.

Reply 28

planktion34

16

Original post by Talkative Toad

Shouldn't be bumping this old thread but physics teacher (they are not the head of physics) seems to be disputing the idea that I can carry forward that pass (they want the stuff ticked off and "doesn't know" whether the practical endorsement can be carried forward or not (I said that JCQ allows the pass to be carried forward)). Told EO whether I can carry forward that pass a few weeks ago because OCR and JCQ clearly say that you can, EO said to ask your teachers/that's up to your teachers. School is clueless. How are they not bothering to be aware of this kind of thing? (Why am I having to be the one to check this stuff because the school/OCR originally are being too slow on this?), still haven't got any kind of formal confirmation from the school that the pass will be carried over.

I don't mind redoing the PAGs (some of them I didn't even get to do last year because of COVID) and writing them up, my issue is not knowing whether the school are going to carry those passes over or not. Put on my UCAS that I passed too and that unis want those passes in the practical endorsement, I can't lie about this. I'm not stressed by this but just nah man I need an answer from the school.

why is your school being so ... unaware

i would send them an email with pictures of the sections in the spec that say if youre restting if you pass the practical endorsements they are carried forward. this is the case for both aqa and ocr a - as i had my pass carried forward

also id involve your parents to send a similar email with screenshots of it stating the pass being carried forward
send this to the head of department and head of sixth
also cc the exams officer if you have one

OP

Original post by planktion34

why is your school being so ... unaware

i would send them an email with pictures of the sections in the spec that say if youre restting if you pass the practical endorsements they are carried forward. this is the case for both aqa and ocr a - as i had my pass carried forward

also id involve your parents to send a similar email with screenshots of it stating the pass being carried forward
send this to the head of department and head of sixth
also cc the exams officer if you have one

Told the EO that it can be carried over weeks ago (can't trust them to do stuff properly without getting Involved (got a separate exam thread rant on that), showed the JCQ document (I think) and the OCR confirmation on TSR. decided to ask them to carry it forward recently again (I.e please carry it forward/can I carry it forward) EO is saying that I need to ask my teachers that 🤦*♀️ but the teachers themselves don't seem to be aware that I can carry it forward without me telling them (some are like "I don't know whether it can be carried forward"/won't tell me that it's being carried forward). Maybe I'm being arrogant and not showing both sides the story properly (I don't work in education so that's why) but don't know. Will probably ask the head of physics tomorrow, chemistry seem to be getting the drift but not sure about physics and still no formal confirmation as far as I'm aware that the passes will be carried forward. Not getting parent involved, waste of time in my opinion.

I'm not annoyed that the school or teachers btw, but exams as they don't seem to know what they are doing.