All this week, our fantastic Sixth Formers have been engaging in a variety of exciting work experience placements. The students have all been excellent ambassadors for the school, and have received universal praise from their placements. Well done Sixth form!
Last week, twenty Year 11 Hartsdown students were given the amazing opportunity to take part in an intensive STEM camp sponsored by Goldman Sachs. From Monday to Wednesday the students experienced interactive, practical-based workshops in Biology, Chemistry and Physics run by specialist teachers. On Thursday the students took part in an ‘Aspiration Day’ aimed at engaging with Goldman Sachs and other role models from industry to contextualize the science subject matter, while providing confidence and employability skills support.
In addition to this, students now have the opportunity to participate in further mentoring in Science run by Brightside Mentoring. This scheme will enable students to have direct access to the support and mentoring of a STEM Ambassador over a 6-week period in which the mentor and mentee will discuss topics such as revision techniques and inspiring STEM careers.
One student (Tyla) who took part said:
“It was really helpful to have in depth subject specific days – separated into biology, physics and chemistry. You were able to focus fully on one subject area. The chemistry sessions were very engaging and active – the experiments were hands-on and it was really valuable to be able to participate in them. The sessions were detailed and explained complex ideas in a way that made them really easy to understand. The chemistry tutor delivered the workshops with an inspiring energy that made me feel like I could achieve much more than I previously thought I was capable of.”
Information for students and parents about IB post-results services available through
IB schools for the May 2021 session.
At the IB we understand the disruption to students’ lives that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused, including disruption to their learning. Every year the IB works to ensure that assessments deliver valid, fair and reliable results for our students across the world but this year we will be paying special attention to consider the impact of the pandemic. Therefore, regardless of whether students have been able to take examinations or not, we expect results to be a fair reflection of their work over the past two school years.
Some students may be disappointed by one or more of their results and might want to challenge them. This document describes the services that the IB provides after publication of results on 6 July 2021. These services are only available through your IB school. There is a fee attached to each of these services which enables the IB to contract independent quality assured examiners to complete the work required. For more information on fees for these services please contact your school IB coordinator.
Post-results services for the exam and non-exam routes
The awarding of the overall IB Grade is based on both the coursework element (IA) alongside the predicted grade (PG)
The IAs this year were marked externally by the IB and the details of how to outline request for a remark of this is below.
The Predicted Grades were based on the whole body of work a student produced for a subject. The relevant IB Diploma Programme grade descriptors are used to determine which grade most closely describes the student’s overall body of written, oral and practical work for a subject , rather than highlights of it. Their teachers have scrutinised samples of marked student work and compared characteristics of this work to characteristics detailed in the grade descriptors. In this way, they determine which grade best fits the qualities of each student’s body of work. Their teachers have also collaborated in the process of grade prediction in order to standardise their approach. Details on how to appeal the predicted grade element of the course are below.
Requesting a remark of the IA components of the course
The following services are available:
1. Re-mark of coursework marked by IB examiners (EUR Category 1).
Important: Marks and grades for a subject may go down, up, or stay the same, as a result of a re-mark.
2. Report on re-mark of coursework marked by IB examiners (EUR Category 1 report). This report explains the marks awarded in the re-marking of examination papers and coursework (EUR Category 1).
Important: Specific conditions need to be met for a request for a report on a re-mark.
3. Provision of images of coursework (EUR Category 2).
Important: IB examiners are only required to make such marks and comments on student work that enable them to determine an accurate mark for the work. The marks and comments made by examiners may not provide useful feedback to teachers and students on the qualities of the work.
4. Re-moderation of the sample of internal assessment work for a subject (EUR Category 3). This service is only available for assessments that are marked by the teacher and of which a sample is moderated by an external examiner.
NB: There is a cost associated with all of these routes and requests must be made by the 15th September 2021.
Appealing a Student-Initiated Predicted Grade
A student-initiated predicted grade enquiry service will also be available for students on the non- exam route who believe they have cause to challenge their school-submitted predicted grade. This service is only available in subjects where the predicted grade is used in the calculation of the final grade. As a result of a student-initiated predicted grade enquiry, their final grade for a subject may go up, go down or stay the same.
Grounds for Student-initiated Predicted Grade Enquiry
A student may initiate a predicted grade enquiry if they have cause to believe that:
1. Their teacher or school made an administrative error.
2. Their school did not apply a procedure correctly.
3. Their teacher made an unreasonable exercise of academic judgement in the choice of evidence from which to determine the predicted grade.
4. Their teacher made an unreasonable exercise of academic judgement in determining the predicted grade from the selected evidence.
A reasonable judgement is one that is supported by evidence. An academic judgement will not be deemed unreasonable simply because a student considers that an alternative grade should have been awarded, even if the student puts forward supporting evidence. There may be a difference of opinion without there being an unreasonable exercise of judgement. The IB reviewer will make a judgement whether or not, based on the evidence provided, the school provided predicted grade is a reasonable academic judgement. Where the student’s challenge is upheld, then the student evidence will be taken into account when deciding what the grade should be. In cases where the IB reviewer judges that the evidence provided indicates that the student should receive a lower predicted grade than the teacher provided, the IB will require agreement of a second reviewer before reducing the student’s grade. The outcome will be final. Appeals against the outcome of a student-initiated predicted grade enquiry will not be accepted. The student must provide their
written and recorded consent. A student’s grade could go down, up or remain the same at any stage in the predicted grade enquiry process.
The Student-initiated Predicted Grade Enquiry Process
There are two stages to the May 2021 student-initiated predicted grade enquiry process. The cost for this process is £134 which is payable when a Stage 2 by the IB is requested.
Stage 1: School review
The first stage of the process takes place within the school. If a student does not consider that they have been issued with the correct predicted grade, they can ask their school to check if an administrative or procedural error, or unreasonable academic judgement has been made. As a result of a school review a subject grade could go down, up or stay the same. If an error has occurred, the school should contact the IB with evidence in support of a revised predicted grade.
Stage 2: IB review
In the second stage a student-initiated predicted grade enquiry is escalated to the IB. The enquiry is made by the school on behalf of the student. A predicted grade enquiry should be submitted if the student considers that the school did not follow its procedure properly, the IB has made an administrative error, or the student considers that the predicted grade awarded by the teacher was an unreasonable exercise of academic judgement. The final grade could go down, up or stay the same as a result of an IB review. The school must provide evidence appropriate to the nature of the request.
What evidence needs to be submitted to request an enquiry about academic judgement?
For the first stage of the process, your school should consider your teachers grade/mark book and representative pieces of work which were among those used to determine your predicted grade. If stage 2 review is requested because your school agrees that a change needs to be made to the predicted grade submitted to the IB, or because you do not agree with the outcome of the first stage of the process, your school will need to send the following evidence to the IB:
1. A declaration accepting the terms and conditions;
2. A copy of the teacher’s grade/mark book for the student;
3. Three pieces of work that are representative of the work of the student, that were included in the body of work used in determining the predicted grade for the student and for which marks, or grades appear in the teacher’s grade/mark book;
4. A statement by the school (up to 500 words) of the outcome of the first stage of the enquiry;
5. A statement by the student (up to 500 words) to explain the enquiry.
What are the possible outcomes of a predicted enquiry request?
As a result of a student initiated predicted grade enquiry, your results can go up, down or stay the same (this is also the case for Enquiry Upon Results services). Teachers considered your body of work and followed guidance provided to schools by the IB when determining your predicted grades. This year, schools were also given advice and guidance from the IB in the distribution of predicted grades for May 2021 to help guide and improve consistency of school submitted predicted grades. Therefore, academic judgement will not be deemed to be unreasonable simply because a student considers that an alternative grade should have been awarded. Once the review is complete, the outcome of the enquiry will be shared directly with your school, who will then ensure the decision is communicated to you. Once an outcome has been made it will be considered final and you will not be able to appeal the decision
Hartsdown are delighted to have STEM Learning and Goldman Sachs providing a STEM summer camp for selected year 11 students next week, more information on this is below:
School students across England are set to take part in a set of new science and computing summer camps developed by STEM Learning, with support from Goldman Sachs Gives.
The initiative will see up to 20 STEM summer camps take place in selected schools during Summer 2021. Locations already planned are in London, Kent, the West Midlands, the East Midlands and the North West. There will be a maximum of 20 students per camp and schools will help identify students most in need of this support to participate in the programme.
The summer camps seek to re-engage students further with learning, and with teachers, after significant disruption to their school experience. The face-to-face courses are designed to give new motivation for learning and support students’ mental health, resilience and wellbeing. It complements their core scientific and/or computing knowledge, essential to future exam success.
Each camp will be hosted remotely by a Goldman Sachs employee, over one hundred of whom have volunteered to train and support the camps as remote STEM Ambassadors.
Jo Hannaford, Head of EMEA Engineering at Goldman Sachs, said: “STEM Learning’s summer camps will have a direct impact in helping young people access leading STEM education and catch-up on missed opportunities during the pandemic. We are proud to support them through Goldman Sachs Gives.
“The future of business is increasingly digital and we need continued investment in the people and skills that will power our economy in years to come.”
Yvonne Baker, Chief Executive of STEM Learning, said: “We are grateful for this generous sponsorship from the Goldman Sachs Gives programme. It is enabling the STEM Learning team to deploy its evidence-led, quality assured approach in developing these tailored summer camp interventions for schools around England.
“Young people need every support in raising their aspirations and attainment, and we are deeply committed to our vision of a world-leading STEM education for all young people, to inspire lifelong engagement with STEM subjects and build a strong and diverse STEM sector.”
Schools will choose which science and/or computing topics the camp will focus on. Early needs analysis will identify the requirements of the schools. Partners from STEM Learning’s schools-led network of Science Learning Partnerships and the National Centre for Computing Education’s schools-led network of Computing Hubs will develop tailored content for each summer camp.
As well as subject teaching, the camps may cover practical skills and exam skills. Activities to raise aspiration will also be woven into the camp sessions, such as career panel discussions, mentoring, mock interviews with STEM Ambassadors or STEM pathway discussions.
Please see the letter below for details of our transition day for our new year 7s.
