The devastating act of the Manchester bombing on the 22nd May 2017 led to national examination boards and the organisation that oversees them (the Joint Council for Qualifications – JCQ) realising that acts such as that or others that have such a wide-reaching impact need to be planned for. They have therefore introduced a national Examinations Contingency Day and asked that we share the following with you:

Contingency day, June 2019 examination series – How might the contingency day be used in the June 2019 examination series? In the highly unlikely event that there is national disruption to a day of examinations in summer 2019, the awarding bodies will liaise with the qualification regulators and the DfE to agree the most appropriate option for managing the impact. As a last resort the affected examinations will be rescheduled. Although every effort would be taken to keep the impact to a minimum, it is possible that there could be more than one timetable date affected following the disruption, up to and including the contingency day on 26 June 2019. Centres will be alerted if it was agreed to reschedule the examinations and the affected candidates will be expected to make themselves available in such circumstances. Where candidates choose not to be available for the rescheduled examination(s) for reasons other than those traditionally covered by special consideration, they will not be eligible for enhanced grading arrangements. Centres must therefore ensure candidates and parents are aware of this contingency arrangement so that they may take it into account when making their plans for the summer. The contingency day will become a standard feature of subsequent examination timetables.

In simple terms, this means that all students should be available up to and including the 26th June 2019 if they are taking their GCSE or A-Level examinations in the summer of 2019. No holidays or other activities that could take them away from being able to participate in nationally rescheduled examinations (in the circumstances explained above) should be planned, as not being available and participating in any nationally rescheduled examination would lead to no grade being awarded. Please keep this in mind when planning for any holidays or other activities during the summer.

Your faithfully
Mr E Botwe