Message from VP Middle Phase regarding exams

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

It is always an anxious time for students, parents and teachers as the final exams approach and we’re all equally keen for every student to do the best they can in their exams.

We recognise the need for parents to have a more holistic sense of how their child is doing. With the disruption to some of our normal contact channels, we are using the Gateway and Evidencer to facilitate sharing of information between stakeholders.

Our traffic light system enables teachers to indicate to pastoral staff students who may be struggling or falling behind with work. In turn this means House staff are able to reach out to parents and support students.

We are mindful that predicted grades are key indicators for students and we are adding an ‘Online Learning Progress’ section on the ARR (Year 13) and Evidencer (Year 11) for students and parents to see.  This will enable you to get a snapshot on the current progress relative to predicted grades for each student. Do keep an eye out for these over the next week and contact the House staff or individual subject teachers if you have any particular concerns about progress.

As you will have read in my email last night, we have had to postpone the oral examinations, recorded conversations and practical assessments. However, based on the dispensation that has been given to us by our exam boards at IGCSE we are rescheduling these to take place once we have had time to consider how this can be best achieved. You will of course hear more about this in due course.

Please note that all on site activities and tutorials have also been postponed. You will also have read that the GCSE examinations have been cancelled in the UK. Whilst this may have created some uncertainty for us, it has been made clear by our exam boards for IGCSE that the examinations are to go ahead, where it is safe to do so. Our priority remains the safety and wellbeing of students but rest assured at Island School, we are well prepared to deal with these developments and we will provide further advice as soon as it comes to hand. 

I would like to add that the important thing for the time being is that we keep our students focused on the preparations that they are making for public exams. 

As ever, thank you for all of your support and patience.

Nicholas Lee

Vice Principal
Middle Phase