Cambridge Technicals – summer 2023 timeline

Jon Varey, PE & Sport Subject Advisor, John Hibbert, Media & Film Studies Subject Advisor and Neil Hateley, IT Subject Advisor

As the summer series approaches, teachers and exams officers across the country are preparing to support their students through what can be a challenging and stressful period. At OCR we are committed to providing you with the support and guidance you need to succeed at such a crucial time. This blog highlights some of the key activities this summer for our Cambridge Technicals qualifications.

Make sure you’ve submitted your reduction in assessment requests from 2021/22

In an ideal world, all the requests for reduction in assessment your exams officer submitted last year will be complete. However, now is the time to check that all students were included on the requests. If students have used reduction in assessment, without a request, your students will not receive their unit result and, ultimately, will not receive the qualification result they’re expecting on results day in August – something no one wants to happen!

To make it easy for you to check all students have the right request in place, we’ve opened up the reduction in assessment area on our secure website, Interchange. You now have until 28 April to check and submit any changes.

Your exams officer can download spreadsheets, which are pre-populated with all your students’ details. There’s information on how to do this on the Reduction in assessment page on our website. If you need to add or amend any students’ requests, let your exams officer know so they can update and submit the details. And if there are no changes to make, let your exams officer know they don’t need to do anything else!

As a quick reminder, reduction in assessment means that, if required, the number of assessments due to be taken in 2021/22 could be reduced:

• Reduction in assessment could only apply to moderated units that were planned to be assessed in 2021/22 because public health restrictions were still in place.
• The number of units that could be used with reduction in assessment can be found in our FAQs (2012, 2016).

And remember, you cannot use reduction in assessment for units that students are taking this year (2022/23).

Summer 2023 timeline: new results checkpoints and moderation visits

This year, to support schools and colleges to enable all students to receive their Cambridge Technicals results as expected this summer, we’ve created two new results checkpoints:

• Checkpoint 1 (3–28 April) – we’ll ask you to confirm which students are expecting a qualification result this summer and check they have the correct qualification entry (registration).
• Checkpoint 2 (15–23 June) – we’ll ask you to check the unit achievements for each student due to receive a qualification result and provide a declaration to confirm the details are correct.

These checkpoints are critical because students without a valid qualification entry (registration) and the required unit achievements will not receive a result by results day.

We’ll be providing detailed instructions to help you complete the checkpoints in the coming weeks.

We’d also like to remind you that final moderation visits must take place before 30 June to ensure results for these units are available by results day. To support this, we’re asking you to make sure these visits are booked with your moderator by 15 May.

We've prepared a timeline of important key dates and deadlines, which you can download from our website. We’d recommend you review this timeline and share it with your colleagues. We've also updated our full list of 2022/23 dates for Cambridge Technicals.

Stay connected

Take a look at our dedicated support page and FAQs for the latest guidance on preparing for summer 2023. If you have any questions about the key dates and deadlines for Cambridge Technicals this summer, please email us at support@ocr.org.uk.

You can also sign up to subject updates and receive information about resources and support.

About the authors

Jon Varey joined OCR as a PE and sport subject advisor in September 2021 having taught in a variety of secondary schools across the country for over 20 years gaining a wealth of experience and subject knowledge. In his spare time, he is a keen runner and enthusiastic mountain biker, and enjoys attending sporting and music events when possible.

John Hibbert has been Subject Advisor for Media and Film Studies since 2018. Prior to joining OCR John taught a range of media and film studies qualifications in secondary schools and was a head of department for eight years. Predictably, in his spare time he is a keen filmgoer, and in addition enjoys reading and miserable indie music.

Neil Hately joined OCR as an IT subject advisor in 2020 after 17 years teaching vocational courses in a variety of FE establishments. He has a degree in Applied Physics from Hull University, and qualifications in Business Computing from The University of Northampton. Outside work, Neil is a keen gardener and beekeeper, and has a young family and various pets.