Planned Assessment Period

There will be one planned prelim assessment period which will take place from Thursday 16th January until Friday 31st January inclusive.  The timetable will be shared with all pupils after the November weekend and pupils will have the opportunity to ensure they are fully prepared for these assessments.

Proposed Prelim Diet 2025 - Thu 16th January - Fri 31st January

Appeals Process - General Information

Since the pandemic, the format and procedures relating to Appeals has changed every session.  In this section you will find the general information relating to gathering robust and credible evidence for appeals on an annual basis.  Additional information will be updated each year, to display procedures for coming academic year.

SQA are expected to announce NQ 2025 plans for appeals in January 2025.  This section of the website will be updated as and when further information is made available.

Pupil Support: Guide to AAA Evidence

This is a guide to answer any questions you may have regarding requesting AAA for your pupils’ prelims and SQA exams.

It is a legal requirement to provide both supported and unsupported evidence as well as an E6 form for any pupil to receive AAA in their assessment. To do otherwise would be considered fraud on the grounds of giving a pupil a potentially unfair advantage in an exam situation and could have legal consequences.

Evidence must be provided for each pupil you wish to request. This must consist of both supported and unsupported evidence. This means in order for the SQA to verify the evidence you have submitted in support of an AAA request, you must be able to show that with support there was a significant difference in the mark or quality of a pupil’s work with support in class, in an assessment or prelim. This must be submitted alongside an E6 form.

What is appropriate evidence?

Appropriate evidence to submit can consist of-

• Annotated Classwork- This should be marked in pen and be as simple as making a note of something like “Questions read aloud to class/pupil”, with the date and your initials also. This would show that the pupil you are bidding for, has a normal way of class working that involves being read to, and makes it appropriate evidence to grant a reader in their SQA exam. Alongside this would need to be another piece of work where they did not have questions read aloud and there was a notable difference in the quality/mark of their work.

NOTE: A sheet with nothing other than a grade would not be suitable to submit as it provides no context to the difference in a pupil’s mark. Marking breakdown should be included.

• Professional Statement- If you teach a practical subject, written evidence may be difficult to produce. In this case a written professional statement from yourself stating the reasons as to why someone may need support in an exam will suffice. For example, if you had no physical evidence to submit, you would submit your E6 form alongside a Word document stating why in your professional opinion, a child would need AAA exam support. However, it should be noted that this is not an ideal form of evidence and there is a possibility the SQA may question it at a later date at which point the responsibility of that statement being the pupil’s exam evidence is solely on you as their teacher.

• In Class Assessments- You may submit an in class assessment/test as exam evidence but it must show that with and without support there is again a significant difference in their mark. An assessment done with & without support would be required for this to be verified.

What to ask for?

There are a number of types of support you may request for pupils in exams. These consist of-

• EXTRA TIME- Asking for extra time is very common, but we have to first consider the amount of time we request as well as considering the evidence to back up the request. Extra time is requested in percentages (25%, 50%) and the percentage time asked for is key. 25% extra time in a 1 hour exam is a considerably shorter time than asking for the same in a 3 hour exam. Consider the evidence you have submitted. Did your pupil need a whole extra period to complete it or did they need an extra 10 minutes the following day? When submitting evidence to request extra time, an incomplete piece of work will not suffice. The evidence must show that when given more time to complete the work, the pupil achieved better results. Ideally a change in colour of pen would show the work completed after the normal time has expired.

• READER- Another common request. If asking for this, the best thing you can do is make sure that having questions or extended pieces of text read aloud is your pupil’s normal, everyday way of working. This could be a member of the Pupil Support Department reading text for them or it could be you the class teacher reading questions aloud to the class & noting on the pupil’s class work that this was the case. If you see a difference in a pupil’s results when they are read for in either of these ways, you have grounds to submit a request for a reader.

• SCRIBE- This can be asked for if a pupil has poor handwriting, dyslexia, spelling difficulties, physical impairment etc. This is fairly easy to show evidence of. If the pupil’s own writing is difficult to understand or seems illegible you have your unsupported evidence there already. Supported evidence would be a similar piece of work where the pupil has been scribed for & receives a better mark in their work. Both pieces of evidence would be scanned and submitted to allow it to be verified. A scribe can be handwritten or typed.

• ICT/DIGITAL PAPER- This could be requested in place of a scribe if a pupil with handwriting difficulties/dyslexia etc. struggles with the idea of vocalising their thoughts for someone else to write down. By typing their answer themselves they can alleviate this problem and any worries about communication with a scribe. If this is something you think would benefit your pupil, again make it their normal way of working in class. Have them use a laptop/iPad to write their answer and note on their work that it made a significant difference. ICT would be more suitable for someone with these difficulties who also suffers from anxiety about the exam hall or digital exam suite.

• TRANSCRIPTION WITH CORRECTION- Transcription with correction consists of the pupil writing their paper themselves despite a difficulty with handwriting/spelling because they can formulate and process their thoughts better by writing them down. After this, a member of the Pupil Support Staff will type out the handwritten paper and correct any spelling/punctuation mistakes to make it more easily readable for a marker.

• TRANSCRIPTION WITHOUT CORRECTION- This follows the same process as Transcription with Correction, however, in this instance the person typing out the handwritten paper will not correct any mistakes at all, no matter how small. This would be more likely to be requested for a subject like English where spelling & punctuation being corrected could potentially affect the mark. The person transcribing would also leave in things such as repetition or unmarked non-linear answering.

• SEPARATE ACCOMMODATION- This would potentially be for a pupil who has issues with anxiety to do with exams & being in the hall who would benefit & achieve a better grade/mark if given a quiet, safe space to complete their exam. You can show evidence of this being a benefit to a pupil by requesting separate accommodation Pupil Support test or even just giving them a separate room within your department to complete an assessment. Again this shows that it is the pupil’s normal way of working and if it improves their marks, it will be appropriate evidence. You might also request this for a pupil who has difficulties with concentration, processing difficulties meaning they prefer to speak their answers aloud or also pupils with ADHD/ADD who may tap/fidget/move around etc.

• PROMPT- A prompt is given to pupils who may have difficulties with processing information, lack focus and miss out questions without realising it then hand back their paper causing them to lose marks unnecessarily. They aren’t losing marks because of their lack of knowledge but because of a difficulty or need they have. A prompt will use either a verbal or image based system to keep these pupils on track to alert them when they may have missed something out, begun to extraneously repeat themselves or zone out. They might also suggest they read things over before doing the final hand over of their paper.

• REST BREAKS- If a pupil has a medical condition that means they might become fatigued or may need toilet breaks, it can be arranged that a pupil who would likely be in separate accommodation, can receive supervised toilet or rest breaks to allow them to be more comfortable. Evidence for this would involve a medical letter that confirms the pupil’s condition. Supported & unsupported written evidence would not be required in this instance.

If a pupil asks for AAA but you as a teacher feel it’s not the best course of action for them or they have had it in the past and you think they no longer need it, you should still submit an E6 form with evidence of their work showing the AAA they are asking for makes no significant difference to their mark.

If you have any questions regarding AAA please don’t hesitate to contact a member of the Pupil Support department via e-mail or please feel free to visit the department and ask one of our team in person.