BTEC Exams and controlled assessments
In light of the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday evening concerning the national lockdown and the information coming from the DFE daily update this evening. We have decided to postpone all BTEC exams that were due to take place from 6 January 2021.
I want to assure students and parents that this is not a decision we have taken lightly. Having reviewed our risk assessments and the high level of transmissibility of the new strain of the virus, we cannot with confidence guarantee the safety of students who are due to sit these exams. We also need to consider the staff that would be required to administer the exams and the teaching staff, support staff and students that will be in our building who could be put at increased risk of transmission. Furthermore, we are conscious that many of our students would need to leave their homes to use public transport to attend these exams. This is clearly at odds with the Government’s advice to stay at home and to not travel.
We are aware that the local FE Colleges, BMET, South and City and Solihull College, along with a number of other schools and colleges nationally have taken the same course of action. As always, the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff is our priority. We will consider how we can fairly assess the work of our BTEC students so that they are not unfairly disadvantaged by this decision and so that we can recognise their hard work, commitment and effort through these assessments.
We are in a constantly evolving situation so please accept our apologies for the lateness of this update. In the absence of clarity and leadership from the DFE we are having to make some very challenging decisions.
