Following the approval of new national qualifications, Qualifications Wales has reviewed the qualifications it designates for pre-16 learners. In line with its designation policy, qualifications that are the same as, or similar to, newly approved national qualifications will no longer be designated.

Based on the outcome of this review, we have updated the status of all our Entry Level and GCSE qualifications in Wales. All our Cambridge OCR Entry Level and GCSE qualifications in Wales will remain available but will no longer be designated. This means they will not attract public funding in Wales beyond the dates shown below.

Cambridge OCR Entry Level Certificate qualifications

Cambridge OCR GCSE (9-1) qualifications

* Please note the different final first teach and final assessment dates for GCSE Ancient History.

What this means for centres

The qualifications listed above currently hold ‘designated’ status in Wales and are therefore eligible for public funding up to the relevant final first teach date. After these dates, public funding will no longer be available. However, the qualifications will remain available to learners on an unfunded basis. Centres should take this into account when planning future curriculum delivery.

This change only affects the availability of these qualifications in Wales and does not affect their availability in England and Northern Ireland.

If you have any queries about this update, please call our Customer Support Centre on 01223 553998 or email support@ocr.org.uk.

Qualifications

• Art and Design - R310 (from 2016)
• Computer Science - R354 (from 2016)
• English - R393 (from 2016)
• Geography - R407 (from 2016)
• Mathematics - R449 (from 2016)
• Science - R483 (from 2016)
• Ancient History (9-1) - J198 (from 2017)
• Citizenship Studies (9-1) - J270 (from 2016)
• Classical Civilisation (9-1) - J199 (from 2017)
• Economics (9-1) - J205 (from 2017)
• Psychology (9-1) - J203 (from 2017)