If you hold an offer to study at CSMS in September you should shortly be receiving the below email from us – please check to see if you receive it. If you don’t please drop us an email to reception@csms.co.uk so that we can check that we have the most up-to-date contact details for you.
Dear Student
The current situation is very uncertain for us all and we understand that naturally you will have questions about what impact the cancellation of your GCSE exams will have on your future. We have tried to answer some common questions below:
HOW WILL I GET MY GCSE GRADES?
The government will be working with an organisation called Ofqual to calculate GCSE grades for all students in Year 11. These grades will be based on all the information available to Ofqual. Some of this information will be provided by your teachers – like coursework grades, mock exam results and teacher predictions. Some information will be provided by the government, such as your prior attainment and the typical results of your school.
The method used to calculate your GCSE grades still hasn’t been decided – but we do know that if you are unhappy with the results you will be able to appeal and may even have the opportunity to sit some exams, although we are unclear when this will happen. Once you have your calculated GCSE results these will count and will be indistinguishable from previous years.
DOES MY OFFER FOR CSMS STILL APPLY?
At CSMS we are still digesting the implications this will have on students who have an offer to study with us in September.
We intend to use the calculated GCSE results as the basis for accepting students into CSMS, so once you receive your results if you intend to appeal them you will need to let us know immediately.
We understand that some of you may be concerned that receiving calculated grades may adversely impact your chances of achieving your CSMS offer. With that in mind we will consider very carefully individual circumstances for those students who narrowly miss their grade requirements for studying at CSMS.
WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW?
If your school is still providing you with the opportunity to engage in remote learning activities we strongly encourage you to do this.
Routine and keeping busy is important for mental health, so if your school is not providing you with specified remote learning tasks we would encourage you to take control over your own learning. You also need to build up your subject knowledge ready for the start of very academically demanding A Levels in September.
HOW CAN I PREPARE FOR A LEVELS?
Firstly we recommend that you continue working hard to revise your GCSE work in the subjects you are going to be continuing at A Level. This includes answering practice exam questions, making notes and flashcards and other active revision techniques.
Secondly we will publishing enhanced ‘Transition packs’. These packs are normally sent to you at the end of the GCSE exams and are completed during the summer holidays and are designed to help you to do well in your baseline assessments in September. We are in the process of adding to these transition packs to provide you with activities and tasks to work on over the next few months. Completing these packs will make a huge difference to how successful your start to your A Levels will be.
We are also in the process of setting up an online portal for future CSMS students where you will be able to access subject challenges and activities. Keep your eyes open for a further email about this in the coming days.
WHAT DO I DO IF I AM WORRIED OR HAVE QUESTIONS?
It is perfectly normal to feel worried or concerned – these are abnormal times and we are all in the same boat. You should talk to your parents, friends and school if you can about general worries and concerns you have. While there may not be many answers at the moment, talking will help.
If you have any questions about CSMS or your offer to study with us you can email us on reception@csms.co.uk and we will respond as soon as we can.
We understand that these are unprecedented times. You are likely to have many questions about the future and what implications these events will have. Please know that we will be here and willing to help as much as we can over the next few months.
Stay safe and keep following government guidance!
Best wishes
The CSMS Team