Announcement

We are looking forward to welcoming our Year 13 leavers to Results Day 2023! 

Results can be collected from 8AM in the St Birinus School Hall on Thursday 17^th August. Please enter the school through the North Drive gates, with parking available along North Drive and behind the Science building.

If you are unable to attend in person, you will need to nominate someone to collect the results on your behalf. You will need to let Ms Fitzgerald know who will be collecting your results by completing this form and emailing it to cfitzgerald@st-birinus.oxon.sch.uk, or by contacting Ms Fitzgerald from your school email address with the name of the nominated person. The nominated person will need to take appropriate identification (ideally, a passport of driving licence).

Emails containing your results will be sent to school email addresses later in the morning. Otherwise, please get in touch on alevelresults@didcotsixthform.co.uk if you have any queries ahead of 17^th August.

Support on Results Day

We request that all communication and enquiries about results are sent to this dedicated email address: alevelresults@didcotsixthform.co.uk. We ask that you do not email subject teachers directly, other than with messages of thanks, as email inboxes may not be monitored during this period. We will ensure the appropriate member of staff responds as quickly as possible.

UCAS, Destinations and Exam Queries Helpdesk

We will be operating a virtual help desk for the duration of the results day and offering further support via email in the days after the 17th August. You can book an  appointment (in person, or via telephone) with Miss Hanna or Mr Cross on Thursday 17^th August by emailing the dedicated address:  alevelresults@didcotsixthform.co.uk. We will get back to you swiftly with an appointment time and will prioritise the most urgent and time-sensitive enquiries.

UCAS Clearing and Clearing Plus

If on results day you do not manage to gain your firm or insurance university choice, you will be eligible for places through Clearing.

It is important to note that fantastic course options will be available through Clearing and whilst the process of applying can seem daunting, some of our students in the past have achieved places through clearing that suit them better than their original choices did. For more information from UCAS, please click here.

Clearing Plus is a new offer, on results day if you do not get an offer from your firm or insurance choice there will be a button in 'Track' for you to press to 'see matches'. Courses that are available to you will be listed and you can express your interest. If they are interested in you as an applicant to their course then they will be in touch.

It is also worth continuing to check the normal Clearing process, too. You can start to look at courses that look like they will be available for clearing places here: https://www.ucas.com/clearing-launch

If you receive no offers, you will be immediately eligible for clearing and therefore doing some research in advance and being prepared with the courses that you would be interested in wouldn’t hurt. I would always recommend contacting universities in advance and asking them if they have clearing spaces and if they would be interested in offering you a place on their course through clearing before you put them down on a clearing form. As stated on applyingtouni.com: Most universities that have course vacancies during Clearing will be prepared to accept you if your grades are below their entry requirements as long as you sound passionate and are right for the degree subject. They may also accept you based on the UCAS points you've accumulated rather than your final grades.

Post-Results Services

If you are unhappy with your results and would like to request to see your paper, or to request that your results are reviewed by the exam boards, you can make this request on, or after results day.  Some of these services are chargeable, and payment and student signature will need to be received before these can be processed. It is likely that key members of teaching staff will be available on the day to offer advice and guidance, and you can also book a helpdesk appointment (details above). I will circulate information about the relevant forms and prices the day before results are released. After the helpdesk has closed, all post-results services are available be emailing alevelresults@didcotsixthform.co.uk.

Certificate Collection

Your A Level certificates will be available for collection from the D6 Study Café on Monday 18^th December 2023, from 3.30PM until 5.00PM. We can also post your certificates to any UK addresses and will include details about cost and how to go about requesting this in our later communication. Certificates would be dispatched in January and so we would expect that you will have received them by 31^st January 2024. Please get in touch after this date if you have not received them.

Grading in Summer 2023

As exam papers are completed, exam boards will begin to mark them using the same mark schemes as were in place in 2019 and in 2022 (the last two years in which exams took place). The marks awarded will depend on the quality of the student’s work.

Once all papers are marked, then exam boards will set grade boundaries. This year, Ofqual’s decision is to return to a similar pattern of grade distribution as in 2019. Ofqual has put systems in place to ensure that nationally grades will not be lower than in 2019, even if the quality of work is slightly lower. In other words, a student has about the same chance as achieving a Grade A*, Grade C, etc. at A level, as they did before the pandemic.

This is the main way in which the exam boards are attempting to ensure that students are not disadvantaged by having lived through the pandemic. Again, this approach is the same across the country, and across all exam boards.

We are looking forward to seeing you on results day, to celebrate your hard work and achievements over the past two years. Our fingers and toes are crossed that you are proud of what you have achieved!