V Cert assessment support

You should also ensure to check our External Assessment Timetable for assessment dates, as paper modification requests need to be made within the below timescales: 

• Requests for Braile and enlarged papers must be submitted 30 working days before the published date of assessment or the start of the assessment window. 
• Requests for coloured paper must be submitted 15 working days before the published date of assessment or the start of the assessment window. 

Reasonable adjustments should be put in place before the assessment takes place to reduce the effect of a disability or difficulty that places students at a substantial disadvantage during an assessment. They should be declared at the point of registration but can be added to the Portal up to the date of the assessment. 

Special considerations are intended to support students who face an unexpected disadvantage at the time of an assessment for reasons outside of their control. Requests can be applied for after an assessment, but the deadline is five working days following the date of the assessment or the last day of a window. 

• Please note that for paper-based assessments, papers will arrive at centres no more than 3 working days before the date of the assessment. 
• Please return papers using the Yellow Label service. Papers must be returned after each assessment. 
• There is no need to return unused assessment papers. 

Please open SecureClient on the devices that will be used during the assessments to allow updates to run prior to the first assessment. We recommend that this is done at least one day before the assessment, not on the same day as any scheduled assessments. 

If you’ve submitted NEA marks for all your learners, a sampling plan will be available on the Portal on at 00:01 on Thursday 1 May. You’ll then need to upload evidence for all learners on the sampling plan within three working days (by 23:59 on Tuesday 6 May). If you don’t submit evidence for all of your learners on time, this will result in delays to the moderation process and the issuing of results for all your learners.   

We know this can be a very busy time, so we wanted to share some hints and tips to support the reduction of time spent on uploading learner evidence.    

Taking some time to consider the following could be key to uploading learner evidence in the most efficient way:   

• file type   
• file size   
• internet speed   
• file quality.   

We’ve produced this guide to show how these factors can impact on upload times and speeds.   

Here’s a short video on how to view students selected for moderation and upload evidence.  Download our guide to uploading digital evidence. 

We also have resources available to support you with the moderation process, including information on how to maintain accurate assessment records, how to submit marks in the Portal and how to see which learners are selected for moderation. Visit our preparing for moderation webpage.  

Please regularly check for any email communication from us and action requests as soon as possible, to ensure moderation and results are not delayed. If we need to contact you regarding your learners, we will email and provide you with details of what we need you to do.