Interest has been mounting from schools in the accredited Cambridge International GCSE qualifications (Cambridge IGCSEs) in the light of Government's announcement that they can offer the IGCSE syllabus from September. Schools interested in taking Cambridge IGCSE can get started by contacting OCR through familiar channels - or by contacting CIE, which develops and grades the qualification.

OCR, in partnership with sister organisation CIE, announced in March that it was offering the Cambridge IGCSE alongside its wide spectrum of qualifications. Now, following the Government announcement, funding for the Cambridge IGCSE will include the core curriculum subjects of English, maths, the sciences and ICT and will be included in league tables and will be regarded as equivalent to GCSE results.

Sixteen Cambridge IGCSE subjects have been accredited by Ofqual for teaching in UK state schools.

The subjects accredited so far are:

• Art and Design
• Biology
• Business Studies
• Chemistry
• English (First Language)
• English (Literature)
• English (Second Language)
• French
• Geography
• Greek
• Hindi
• History
• ICT
• Mathematics
• Music
• Physics.

Further information can be found on the OCR and CIE websites.