Exams

Please contact the Exams Office team (Mrs Ayling, Mrs Scott, Mrs Nossiter and Mrs Cripps) if you have any questions regarding exams at Vandyke Upper. The direct line for the Exams Office is 01525 636706 or you can email [email protected].

This page contains lots of essential information relating to exams at Vandyke. You can use these quick links to jump straight to the section you need:

Upcoming Internal Exams

Exam Boards & Exam Codes, 2025-26

External Exam Timetables – 2026

Summer 2026 Exam Results Collection Authorisation & Certificate Collection Authorisation

Exam Certificates – Summer 2025 exams

Exams information for students

Candidate Handbook

JCQ information for exam candidates 2025-26

Exam board information

Exam Procedure Policies

Contingency Dates for the External Exams of Summer 2026

We need to make you aware of contingency dates for the external exams of summer of 2026. The Joint Council of Qualifications (JCQ) who regulate exams across the country, have named all of Wednesday 24th June as a contingency day for exams. This day is in place in case there are any disruptions to the running of the summer exam season. If there are disruptions, then this is the allocated times that exams will be rescheduled to.

Therefore, students need to be available to sit exams on this date even if they currently don’t have a timetabled exam for those days. JCQ are clear that if a student is not available and one of their exams is rescheduled to the contingency day, they will not be eligible for special consideration by the exam boards. In other words, they will not receive any marks for that paper and will not be able to sit it on an alternative day.

Of course, we hope that these contingency days will not be needed, and they are merely a precaution, but we must pass on the JCQ information to you and request that students are available on the 24th June 2026 as explained above.

Summer 2026 Exam Results Collection Authorisation & Certificate Collection Authorisation

Results and certificates will only be given to the student, unless prior written permission is received before the end of term (please see below).

Results Dates

– A Level (GCE)/BTEC: Thursday 13th August 2026. Students can collect their results between 8.15am and 11.00am

– GCSE: Thursday 20th August 2026. Students can collect their results between 9.00am and 11.00am

Certificate Dates

– To be confirmed. This is dependent on when we receive them from the Awarding Bodies, but we would normally expect this to be in December 2026.

If you are not available or able to attend to collect your results or certificates yourself, you will need to provide us with written authorisation to give permission for someone else to collect, by completing the relevant form (please see links below). These forms must be completed by the student only, and the response must come from the student’s own email. We cannot accept any instructions if they come from any other person (ie – parent / carer / friend etc). Permissions have to come from the student.

Results Collection Form authorisation link

Certificate Collection Form authorisation link

All students who are sitting exams this summer who are in Year 12 will be able to view their results from the Exams Assist portal from 11.30am on the morning of 13th August for A Level/BTEC results. This is the most efficient way of receiving them. However, should students wish to collect them from school, they can do so between 9:30am – 11:00am.

All students who are sitting exams this summer who are in Year 10 will be able to view their results from the Exams Assist portal from 9.00am on the morning of Friday 21st August for GCSE results. This is the most efficient way of receiving them. However, should students wish to collect them from school they can do so between 10:30am – 11:30am on Thursday 20th August.

Exam certificates – Summer 2025 exams

If you sat an external exam in Summer 2025 and did not return to Vandyke Upper School in September, you are invited to collect your certificates from school. This includes GCSE, A Level and BTEC Exams. Certificates will be retained for 12 months after which time they should be destroyed. If a replacement is then needed the exam board will charge a fee.

Certificates can be collected from school at any time between 9:30am – 3:15pm on weekdays during term time.

If you can’t collect in person, please send an email to give permission for someone else to collect your certificates on your behalf. Email [email protected] stating your name, year group and the person who has permission to collect.

Exams information for students

Students must come to all their exams with any equipment needed, including a calculator – no equipment can be handed out.

Exam pencil cases containing a black pen, pencil, rubber, pencil sharpener, ruler, protractor, highlighter and pair of compasses (£2) and scientific calculators (£11) can be purchased from the online Vandyke Upper School Shop and should be done so in advance of exams.