Course: Exams Information | ncsvle

  • Exams Information

    Welcome to the Exams Information page. 

    All the details provided below are designed to help and support you with your exams while you are enrolled at New College Swindon.

    Opening Hours:

    North Star: 9am - 4pm, Office N1.38 (Pegasus Building)
    Queens Drive 9am - 4pm, Office BG20 (Ground Floor, B Block, near the Enrichment Centre)

    We are not open during weekends. 
    If you need to come and see us in either of the Exam Offices, please can we ask that you knock, or ring the bell, and wait at the door. Students are not allowed in the Exams Office for GDPR reasons. 

    Last Updated: August 2022

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  • Instructions: Clicking on the section name will show / hide the section.


  • Before sitting your exams, you must ensure that you are familiar with the below JCQ regulations. 
    Further information, including all the regulatory information around exams, can be found on the JCQ Website


  • Unless you are a returning New College student who was assessed as needing access arrangements during the previous academic year, your access arrangements will not automatically be transferred from your previous College or School.  This means that if you require access arrangements for any of your exams at New College, you will need to book an appointment with our Additional Learning Support team to be assessed.

    The Additional Learning Support Team are based in BG06 and can be contacted at ALS.Admin@newcollege.ac.uk 


    It is an absolute requirement that the awarding bodies approve access arrangements prior to exams taking place, therefore, they impose national deadlines for the applications to be completed. These deadlines are:

    • 1st November > access arrangements for be implemented for November exams
    • 31st October > access arrangements to be implemented for January exams
    • 31st March > access arrangements to be implemented for Summer exams

    The Exams Team are responsible for applying for access arrangements on your behalf, but in order for us to be able to do that, you must ensure you have attended your initial diagnostic assessment with ALS and provided any evidence that is requested of you.


    What sort of evidence do I need to provide to New College?

    New College needs proof that students require these Access Arrangements to be able to process the application with the awarding bodies, so you may be asked to provide any of the following evidence:

    • Copy of medical evidence
    • Educational Psychologists/Specialist Teacher report
    • FORM8
    • Normal way of Working

  • What is Special Consideration?

    Special consideration is a post-examination adjustment to a candidate's mark to reflect circumstances outside of the candidate's control at the time of the examination which is likely to have had an effect on their ability within the assessment.


    When can I request this?

    Special consideration can be requested at any time during the examination period, under the following circumstances:

    • Temporary illness, accident or injury at the time of the exam;
    • Bereavement at the time of the exam;
    • Domestic crisis at the time of the exam;
    • Serious disturbance(s) during the exam (i.e. unscheduled fire alarm activation).

     

    All requests for special consideration must be discussed with the exams manager, in confidence if necessary. In the case of illness or bereavement you may be asked to provide written evidence as part of the application for special consideration.

    • JCQ

      If you require further information about your subject and the exams, you can always check the websites of the awarding bodies, also called exam boards. Your course guide should tell you which awarding body is correct for you.

      Please, be aware that the dates for national exams (GCSE and GCE) are imposed by the awarding bodies, therefore we cannot change any dates. Make sure you check the final edition timetables before booking holidays, etc. Dates on provisional timetables do sometimes change. 

      Click on the images below to have access to the official websites of the main awarding bodies, most of them under the JCQ regulations:

      AQA

      Pearson Edexcel

      NCFE

      OCR

      WJEC Eduqas

      City&Guilds

      Other awarding bodies at New College Swindon are:

      • VTCT
      • London Institute of Banking and Finance (LIBF)
      • RSL (ROCKSCHOOL)
      • Trinity College London (ESOL)
      • Cambridge Assessment (University Admissions Testing)
      • IMI
      • NOCN
      • BCS
      • AIM
      • EAL
      • AAT
      • Open Awards
      • CIH
      • TQUK
      • CIPD

    • Certificates arrive in College 3 months after results are issued. Therefore, for exam results received in August, you will be able to request your certificates from 1st December. 

      You can request them by emailing exams.office@newcollege.ac.uk with your name, date of birth and student number. Please be aware that it can take a minimum of 48h from receipt of your email for your certificates to be ready. 

      At the Queens Drive Campus we keep certificates for five years. All the uncollected certificates are automatically securely shredded after this period of time. At the North Star campus, we post out your certificates as soon as they are received. 

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      'What happens if I am not available to come into college for collection?'

      Certificates are not routinely sent out by post. If you are not available to come into college personally and collect your certificates, you can provide a third party with a Letter of Authorisation to collect these on your behalf. This letter must be signed by you and must contain your name, date of birth, student number and name of the designated person to collect. A printed email sent from your own email address could replace this letter, but a hard copy must be brought by this person as well as their own photographic ID. 

      Please be aware that no certificates will be given to anyone without previously checking the photographic ID of the collector. 

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      'What can I do if I lose or misplace my certificates?'

      Once you collect your certificates from our secure cabinet, they will be your responsibility. In case of misplacing them, the only thing the Exams Office would be able to provide you with is a replacement Statement of Results, if we still have electronic records of your studies at New College. 

      Replacement certificate must be requested from your original Awarding Body. See the link below for more information on this procedure:

      https://www.gov.uk/replacement-exam-certificate 

    • New College Swindon hold exams both on and off site. 

      You should be at your exam venue no less than 15 minutes before the start of your exam. Please, make sure you are in the right venue to take your exam. The exams timetable will be available on the exams noticeboard in the main reception for you to check this information, and where there are too many students for one venue, rooming lists will be displayed on the exams noticeboard. They will indicate which room you should attend. 

      If you have access arrangements, please check this thoroughly. 

       

      On Site Examination Venues

      The main on site room that we use for exams in the summer is the Sports Hall, although we do use other rooms as well depending on the size of the cohort. Please, always ensure you check the timetable and/or the rooming lists to find out where your exam will be.

       

      Off Site Examination Venues

      If you have an exam that is being held "off site" it will more than likely be at either the Polish Community Centre or Queens Drive Methodist Church Hall. Both of these buildings are located on Whitbourne Avenue, a short walk from New College.

      There is no secure storage at either location, you are advised not to take any belongings with you, as bags are not allowed in the exams halls. Please do not take cars to either venue. You should park at New College and walk from there.

      You will find the addresses of these off site venues below:

      Queens Drive Methodist Church
      Queens Drive, Park South,
      Swindon SN3 1AS

      Click here to view a map showing directions from the college campus to the venue, or scan the QR code below.

      Polish Community Centre
      Whitbourne Avenue,
      Swindon SN3 2JX

      Click here to view a map showing directions from the college campus to the venue, or scan the QR code below.
      Photo: Queens Drive Methodist Church Photo: Polish Community Centre

      QR Code: Queens Drive Methodist Church

      QR Code: Polish Community Centre

       

      *If you have iOS (Apple) operative system, you can scan this code with your normal phone camera and follow the Safari link.