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Exam Centre
We provide a nurturing and gentle learning environment and completed the full provision by becoming an exam centre in 2023, to ensure that our learners had the opportunities to achieve national qualifications, like every other young person attending school has.
Most of our learners and exam candidates have neurodiversity, mental health challenges and many have anxiety. As such, our approach to the exams process is a gentle and supportive one, often needing creative thinking to work around the challenges our learners have. We also support the elective home educated community to access exams through us as private candidates, many with the same challenges as our in-centre learners. The working environment is very different to mainstream schools.
Bookings for Summer 2026 Exams are now closed
Our interest form for exams summer 2027 will open on June 1st, and official entry form released to those who have registered interest on September 1st
Please Note: Maths GCSE Exams for 2026 are now fully subscribed and we are no longer able to offer further places to candidates.
FAQs
Please use our FAQ's to answer the most commonly asked questions, if you need further information or would like clarity on specific exam-based questions, please contact us at: exams@learnwithconfidence.co.uk
The exams take place on set dates in May and June. The dates cannot be changed and candidates must make themselves available for all papers they are sitting.
CIE exams may start at the end of April.
Yes, if we have a specialist tutor who can double mark or moderate the NEA / coursework.
If you are using an independent tutor, we need to know they are qualified to teach the subject.
Where private candidates do not have teachers to support the NEA or coursework, we have qualified teachers can provide this service at an additional cost.
We only facilitate the written exams so practicals will need to be carried out with providers who can support this. Alternatively, you may wish to look at iGCSE’s where the practicals are not mandatory.
Coursework is unique to the exam so will have to be carried out again.
For some subjects, the mark for the NEA / practicals may be carried forward to the resit depending on the awarding body’s regulations.
GCSE and IGCSE are not the same, though they are equivalents. An IGCSE is the international version of the GCSE and is recognised as being at a similar academic level. Course content can differ slightly by subject.
There are regulations around what can be approved and the need for them. Having an EHCP or diagnostic assessments doesn’t not necessarily lead to approval, regardless of them being written into these reports. We would have to look at all the evidence, have discussions with teachers to understand the normal way of working, have evidence from mock exams and assessments to ascertain if there is enough evidence of certain adjustments and this is certainly the case for extra time.
We can arrange an access arrangement assessment though one of our linked assessors at an additional cost. However, each access arrangement will need to have evidence of a normal way of working.
Only exceptional circumstances.
Exam Centre Enquiries
Useful Information for Candidates
We want to make the process as seemeless and transparent for all candidates as possible. Here are some usefull guides and links so you can understand the process of attending your exams with Learn with Confidence.
Useful Information for Parents/Carers
TIMETABLES
The exams officer will notify candidates of their examination entries and the dates and times of their examinations/assessments based on the exam entry information which they have received from teaching staff. In addition to teaching staff, candidates are required to check that their exam timetable reflects the subjects which they have studied and the exams they are expecting to take, including, if applicable, that they have been entered for the correct tier of entry.
ACCESS ARRANGEMENTS
Access arrangements/reasonable adjustments are based on an individual candidate’s needs.
JCQ regulations clearly state that the SENCo, or an equivalent member of staff within a FE college, fully supported by teaching staff and members of the senior leadership team, must lead on the access arrangements/reasonable adjustments process within their centre.
It is the responsibility of the centre – not candidates or parents/carers – to make decisions relating to access arrangements for their candidates. Although professionals from other organisations may give advice, they cannot make the decision for the centre as they will not have a working knowledge of an individual candidate’s needs and how their difficulties impact in the classroom and/or in timed assessments. It is the responsibility of the SENCo (or equivalent role) to make appropriate and informed decisions based on the JCQ regulations.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Centres are only permitted to submit applications for special consideration where an adverse issue or event has had or is reasonably likely to have had, a material effect on a candidate’s ability to take an assessment or demonstrate their normal level of attainment in an assessment.
For example, a candidate who has temporarily experienced illness, injury or some other event outside of their control at the time of the assessment. Any applications submitted to the awarding bodies must be supported by appropriate evidence signed by a member of the senior leadership team.
ARRIVING LATE FOR EXAMS
If a candidate arrives after the start of the examination, it is entirely at the discretion of the centre whether the candidate is allowed to enter the examination room and sit the examination. If a candidate who arrives late is permitted by the centre to sit the examination, the candidate must be allowed the full time for the examination.
ABSENT FOR TIMETABLED EXAMS
If a candidate misses (is absent from) a timetabled component or unit for an acceptable reason and the centre is prepared to support an application for special consideration, an adjustment may be made to the candidate’s grade by the awarding body.
The regulations do not permit a missed timetabled exam to be rearranged and taken on a different day. Even if there is an acceptable reason for a candidate’s absence which is supported by the centre, there are minimum requirements that must be met before the awarding body can award an enhanced grade.
Contact Details
For general queries relating to exams, please telephone 07565 386148 or email: exams@learnwithconfidence.co.uk
Regulations & Conditions
Mobile phones, Airpods, Earphones/Earbuds, an iPod, MP3/4 player, Smart glasses or any other smart device are not allowed on the candidate’s person in exam rooms whether switched on or off. We are obliged to report any candidate who is discovered with such a device on their person or whose device is activated in their bag when in the exam room; this includes alarm reminders. Any such incident could result in disqualification from that exam.
Exams begin promptly and you will be given the timings for all your exams well in advance. Arrive early, if candidates are late, they may not be allowed to sit the exam.
Candidates must sit in the correct seat. Silence must be observed at all times in the exam room. No food is to be taken into the exam. A small, clear bottle of water may be placed on the floor beside the desk but the label must be removed.
You must only have on your desk what you need to complete your exam. Possession of unauthorised material in the exam room is considered malpractice and candidates are likely to be disqualified from the exam they are sitting and potentially, all their exams.
It is the candidate’s responsibility to bring to the exam any materials that are required for that paper, e.g. calculators, specific Maths instruments, black pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, all of which must be carried in a clear plastic bag. Write only in black pen.
Candidates must stop work immediately when they are told to do so once the end of the exam is announced, even if they are still working or mid-sentence. Candidates are expected to leave the exam room quickly and silently as other students may still be working.