UCAS 2021 – INFORMATION FOR UNIVERSITY and COLLEGE ADMISSIONS TEAMS
Background contextual information about Carmel College
Carmel College is an oversubscribed average-sized secondary school which became an Academy in 2011. It is now the lead school in a large MAT which was established in 2013. The school is amongst the top performing schools in the country in terms of GCSE results. In November 2013, Ofsted judged our school as ‘outstanding’. Carmel is a located in the north-east of England with 164 pupils in Year 13. Our current Year 13 cohort is a made up of a combination of students who started at Carmel in Year 7 and others who joined us from other secondary schools from across the region. The majority of Y13 are enrolled on 3 A levels or their equivalent, following the new Linear courses or examined Vocational courses. The overall points per entry in 2019 was 37.0 for GCE and 28.3 for Vocational. At GCE, 82% of our 2019 Y13 cohort achieved A*- C.
COVID Contingency 2020
During the lockdown period that started in March, our students accessed lessons via Microsoft Teams. They then received approximately 12 hours of face-to-face taught curriculum time in July at the end of Y12. Approximately 10% of students in this year group had issues when working from home that affected their progress in learning, these issues included access to ICT; lack of a laptop, PC, sharing with siblings or only able to access learning through their phone.
Since returning to full-time education in September 2020 we have had several students who have been absent from college due to issues relating to Covid-19, who are trying to maintain their education remotely. Many of our students have expressed concern for their own and their family’s well-being at this time, either because they are from a socially, economically deprived area, have family who are shielding or vulnerable or have parents who are keyworkers. Increasingly Sixth Form students are spending time out of school to self-isolate.
Year 13 Predicted Grades
A level students: Y13 Predicted Grades at Carmel College are usually based on 2 internal modular style assessments and an internal mock exam that occurs at the end of Year 12. These are conducted in formal situations using past exam questions, completed under exam conditions with the intent of these to test a student’s learning in a subject from September up until that point in the school year. In this way, a student’s capacity to cope with an ever-increasing quantity of learning is built up. With this year group the first 2 of these Modular Assessments were completed as normal, however, our end of year exams took place remotely, via Microsoft Teams. These assessments alongside students GCSE results formed the basis of our students’ UCAS predictions.
Cambridge Technical and BTEC National Vocational students: These courses have externally examined units and externally moderated assessed units distributed across Y12 and Y13, depending upon the subject being studied. The results of units examined or submitted in Y12 are usually used to base predicted Grades on. This year only a handful of these students sat external examined units in January 2020. The students on these Vocational courses continued to complete work during lockdown using Microsoft Teams, with the exception of practical and skills-based evidence, they had finished units planned for completion in Y12. Departments were required to submit internal grades for all Y12 units in anticipation that they might be required for the school to generate Center Assessment Grades again if necessary, for Summer 2021. These are now being used to guide staff to make their predictions for these students.
