Exams
Schools and colleges in Jersey offer students the opportunity to study courses and gain qualifications using the same exams that are available in the UK.
The websites below describe these qualifications, mainly GCSE, A-level, GNVQs and NVQs.
AQA website
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment website
Edexcel website
International Baccalaureate website
Jersey's Learning Platform the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) website
OCR website
Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency website
WJEC website
For information on courses offered at each school, contact your school directly.
Assessments in school
Teachers assess progress and achievements regularly. This is to find out how well pupils understand their work and to help teachers plan future lessons. Pupils also sit more formal tests and exams which show how well they’re doing.
Pupils are also taught how to assess their own work (self-assessment) and how to assess other pupils' work (peer-assessment). This helps them gain a deeper understanding of quality and how to improve.
Pupils are assessed formally at the end of each year.
Primary schools
Nursery and reception pupils are assessed by observing how they play and learn using the Jersey Foundation Stage Profile so progress can be tracked and teaching planned.
The progress that pupils make is assessed by teachers every term:
- Year 2: speaking, listening, reading, writing and mathematics.
- Year 4: mathematics, reading and spelling screening tests
- Year 5: cognitive ability test which assesses reasoning and predicts current and future academic attainment
- Year 6: English, mathematics and science.
Cognitive Abilities Test on the GL Assessment website
Secondary schools
Secondary assessments include:
- Year 7: cognitive ability test (CAT) and mathematics, reading and spelling screening tests
- Year 9: final CAT, where the pupil’s average score in this test is used as one indicator for 14+ transfer
- Years 10 and 11: GCSEs, BTEC and GNVQ examinations
- Years 12 and 13: AS, A2, BTEC, GNVQ and NVQ examinations
Marking and planning by Jersey Teachers
Marking is referred to as 'feedback'.
The three principles of feedback are that it should be:
- meaningful
- manageable
- motivating
The five principles of planning:
- planning a sequence of lessons is more important than writing individual lesson plans
- fully resourced schemes of learning need to be in place for all teachers
- it should not be done simply to satisfy the requirements of others
- it should take place in purposeful and well defined blocks of time
- it should makes use of high quality resources
Feedback aims to reduce the gap between where the student ‘is’ and where he or she is
‘meant to be’.
Teachers use the guidance document below.
Marking and planning guidance for Jersey Teachers
Grades 9 to 1 the new GCSEs: explained for employers
Across Jersey and England GCSE grades are changing. Between 2017 and 2019 there will be a mixture of number and letter grades. From 2020 we expect all grades to be number 9 to 1 with 9 being the highest.
Vocational and technical qualifications, such as BTECs, will remain the same, allocating pupils a pass, merit or distinction grade.
The table below shows how the new 9 to 1 GCSE grades compare to the current A* to G GCSE grades, as well as the Vocational and Technical pass, merit and distinction
Numbers explained:
- 9 is the highest
- 5 is a strong pass
- 4 is a standard pass
| 9 | A* | Distinction: Level 2 |
|---|
| 8 | A* | Distinction: Level 2 |
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| 7 | A | Merit: Level 2 |
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| 6 | B | Merit: Level 2 |
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| 5 | B / C | Merit / Pass: Level 2 |
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| 4 | C | Pass: Level 2 |
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| 3 | D / E | Pass: Level 1 |
|---|
| 2 | E / F | Pass: Level 1 |
|---|
| 1 | F / G | Pass: Level 1 |
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| U | U | |
|---|
The new GCSEs explained for employers
gov.je