Access Arrangements

What are they?

Access Arrangements allow candidates with specific needs, such as special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries to access the assessment and show what they know and can do without changing the demands of the assessment, these are agreed before assessments take place. Access Arrangements include but are not limited to; readers, scribes, extra time, supervised rest breaks, being in a smaller room, modified papers or bi-lingual dictionaries; each arrangement is very much dependent on the individual need of each student at the time of the examinations.

How are they managed at KGGS?

Access Arrangements are determined by the individual needs of the students and therefore should not be compared to past access arrangements of siblings or their peers. We will always endeavour to ensure that the most appropriate arrangement for each student is sought out. In order to allow us to facilitate this there has to be a substantial body of evidence in place that we can provide to JCQ (Joint Council for Qualifications) so we encourage teaching staff, teaching assistants and parents where appropriate to make referrals throughout the year.

We regularly ask for feedback and evidence alongside formal testing which happens at the end of Year 9 and start of Year 10. It is important that whatever arrangements are awarded match the student’s normal way of working so that they are familiar with how to approach their exams. Before the exam series begins, we will spend time with all the students who have any sort of arrangement to ensure that they know what they are allowed to do and how the arrangement should help them.

All access arrangements are granted subject by subject based on the evidence collected so it is vital that this is sought out consistently to assess what arrangements are the most appropriate.