Correspondence

Message to school and college leaders

Published 28 April 2025

Applies to England

Dear school and college leaders,

As we head towards the summer exam season, I am writing to you with important information about exams and assessments. 

Preparing for summer exams and assessments

Schools and colleges play an essential role in maintaining the security and integrity of exams and assessments. Safely storing and distributing exam materials, and making sure students understand the rules when taking assessments, are vital for national qualifications delivery. Cyber security is an important part of this role. You should make sure you are familiar with JCQ’s guidance for schools and colleges on cyber security.

Each year it is important to reflect on your school’s or college’s contingency plans and check practical arrangements for different scenarios, such as how you would access information on seating plans or access arrangements should your systems go down.

Ofqual’s Guide for Schools and Colleges 2025 provides useful information about arrangements for exams and assessments. You can also share Ofqual’s Student Guide to Exams and Assessments in 2025 with your students. You may also wish to sign up for Ofqual’s update to keep up to date with relevant information.

GCSEs, AS and A levels 

One of Ofqual’s roles as the regulator is to make sure exam boards maintain qualification standards. This means the standard of work needed to get a particular grade this year is comparable with last year, and it is no easier or harder to get any grade each year, and this consistent standard is the same for all students taking a qualification. 

As a leader, you play a crucial role in helping your colleagues and students understand how qualifications are graded, especially at this time of year. We understand that this is a process that can be difficult to explain, so we have produced this toolkit to support communication about grading. This includes a video explainer and answers to some commonly asked questions.

Vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) 

Arrangements for VTQs taken alongside or instead of GCSEs and A levels, such as Tech Awards and Applied Generals, will remain broadly the same as in 2024. Awarding organisations will continue to operate a term-time checkpoint for these qualifications where they will be required for progression, to confirm which students are expecting a result in August. The checkpoint makes sure awarding organisations have the information they need to deliver results on time. Ofqual’s VTQ Information Hub brings together key dates and deadlines in one place to help you and your exams officers prepare. 

There are also specific arrangements to be aware of:

1. Tech Awards (Level 1/2 vocational qualifications taken by 14 to 16 year-olds alongside GCSEs) are in their second year of awarding in 2025. These qualifications have a terminal rule.  This means non-exam assessment (NEA) must be completed before the exam. If you are unsure about the arrangements, please speak to your awarding organisation.

2. For T Levels in their first year of awarding in 2025, we have asked awarding organisations to apply generosity when grading the Technical Qualifications (the core and occupational specialism assessments).

3. There will be new post-16 qualifications available to teach from September 2025: Alternative Academic Qualifications (AAQs) and Reformed Technical Qualifications including Technical Occupation Qualifications (TOQs). These may differ in structure, size or subject content from similar qualifications they are replacing – please ensure the relevant staff understand the differences and contact your awarding organisation if you have any queries about this.

Finally, I would like to thank you and your colleagues for all your work to support the safe delivery of the exam series and wish your students well in their upcoming exams and assessments.

Sir Ian Bauckham CBE
Chief Regulator