Examinations and qualifications

Home-educated young people are not required to take formal exams unless they choose to. Their learning journey can be tailored to their individual needs and goals. You may base these on your child's future aspirations. For example:

Does your child wish to go onto college and if so what course would they like to do?
What do they want to do beyond statutory school age?

If you can identify what path your child wishes to take, then you'll be able to determine what exams they will need.

If you're still unsure, check out helpyouchoose.org. The service offers information, advice and guidance from Year 8 onwards (ages 13+). Some families choose to stagger exams across years 9, 10 and 11.

Booking the exams

In response to the shortage of exam centres accepting private candidates, we're pleased to share that we've partnered with our colleagues in Adult Learning to offer a limited number of GCSE exam opportunities each summer for home educated young people in Norfolk.

These include:

GCSE AQA English Language
GCSE Edexcel Mathematics foundation and higher papers

These exams are available to students in Years 10 and 11 who are currently registered with our Service.

Unfortunately, we're unable to offer IGCSE or Cambridge qualifications at this time.

Home educated young people will sit exams as private candidates. You will need to contact an exam centre to register your child as a private candidate to sit their exams. There will be a charge for the examinations, and you may also be charged an admin fee by the exam centre.

The Joint Council for Qualifications has published a searchable directory of examination centres that take private candidates for the summer:

View the directory of examination centres for private candidates (opens in new window) (opens new window).

The centre links in the directory will provide more information. This includes whether they are offering remote assessment.

It's sensible to make enquiries from the autumn before the summer of exam sitting and certainly no later than January.

You should clarify your child's subjects, boards, tiers and any special access requirements at the earliest opportunity.

Be aware that many schools or colleges do not appear to have an affiliation or registration with the Cambridge (CIE and OCR) boards. So they're unable to offer examinations with these boards.

Further information

You may find the links below helpful for support:

Exam specifications and exam boards

Top tips for organising exams:

Find out what exam board/GCSE your child was studying while at school (if applicable)
Work out whether your child should enter the foundation or higher paper:
- Higher tier is for candidates predicted to achieve grades 4-9 ( old style C-A**)
- Foundation is for candidates expected to achieve grades 1-5 ( old style G-C)
Visit individual exam board websites once you have decided which one to use. You'll find lots of free guidance, including subject specifications.

Difference between GCSE and IGCSEs

Many GCSEs taken in schools and colleges include coursework or assessments. Teachers or assesors will mark these.

Many home educating children take IGCSE (I=international) examinations. This type of GCSE is exam-based only and does not include any coursework. Here are a few exam boards that offer IGCSEs:

Functional Skills

Functional Skills in English and Maths are an alternative to GCSEs. They focus on workplace literacy and numeracy and you can access them from Entry Level up to Level 2.

You can book exams and complete them online at home.

To give an indication of levels, a Level 2 Functional Skills pass is equal to a Grade 4 at GCSE.

The following links offer more information about Functional Skills:

Access Arrangements and Exams for Home Educated Students

Some home educated students may need additional support when sitting GCSE/IGCSE or Functional Skills exams. This support is known as access arrangements and helps ensure that no student is unfairly disadvantaged in an exam.

What are Access Arrangements?

Access arrangements are adjustments such as extra time, rest breaks, the use of a laptop, a smaller exam room, or having a reader or scribe. They do not change the difficulty of the exam they simply allow students to show what they can do.

Where Can Students Sit Exams?

Not all exam centres accept private candidates who need access arrangements. Families should contact exam centres early to check availability and whether the specific support can be provided.

When to Apply

Applications for access arrangements must be made well in advance. Most centres set deadlines:

Early February for summer exams
September/October for November resits

The exam centre will guide you through their process and will submit the application to Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ)

What Evidence Is Needed?

Centres require evidence to approve access arrangements. This may include:

A recent diagnostic assessment or medical report
Information about the student's usual way of working at home
A mock exam for each subject, completed under timed conditions and marked by a tutor, showing how much was completed in normal time and extra time

Why Some Centres Charge Extra

Additional fees are common because centres may need to provide separate rooms, extra invigilators, specialist staff (like scribes), or additional administration.

If an Exam Centre Can't Offer Support

If a centre is unable to provide the arrangements needed, families may:

Ask why it was declined
Provide updated evidence
Contact another centre
Explore alternative arrangements such as supervised rest breaks instead of extra time