National Exam Seasons

The Joint Council of Qualifications (JCQ) allows awarding bodies to deliver two main exam seasons for academic subjects annually. The November exam series for students resitting English language GCSE or Maths GCSE in KS5, and the Summer series, which runs from May to June annually, is for GCSE at KS4 and KS5 and GCE (AS and A Levels) in KS5.

Vocational Qualifications for RSL also have an External Assessments window as a separate series that takes place from January to May.

KS4 Strand students taking qualifications with these awarding bodies can expect to sit an external assessment during Year 10 or Year 11, during Term 3 and/or Term 4.

Summer 2026 Exam season

In 2026, the live exam season will run from 8th May - 18th June. Please see the full Summer Exam Timetable 2026 for our school. This timetable will only show generic information for the subject and papers of each exam, such as date and time, exam code and title of the exam. This will not show individual seating and rooming. Individual timetables will be sent to students close to the time of exams.

All exams students are entered for must be attended. Exams start at 9AM or 1PM, students must arrive 15 minutes before to be seated and must ensure they do not bring in any prohibited items to the exam rooms.

GCSE Art and Design Option, GCSE Photography Option, and
AQA GCSE Textile Option exams should take place in April 2026.

Contingency Dates

For the Summer 2026 exam series, the awarding bodies have designated Wednesday 24 June 2026 as a contingency day. This means that, in the event of national or significant local disruption, exams could be rescheduled to this date. Because of this, all students must remain available until 24 June 2026, even if their last scheduled exam is earlier.

Students taking Functional skills, any additional Level 2 qualifications, GCSE's and GCE's are reminded they must ensure they are available on the dates listed above for any rescheduled exams.