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Hi Colleague

We hope you've had a good couple of weeks and are looking forward to a well-deserved Easter break.

For guidance as you prepare to submit students' marks by the deadline of 15 May, please see our subject update. We've also published a handy summer 2023 timeline, highlighting key dates and deadlines.

In this week's bulletin:

  • key dates and information for our legacy and current qualifications
  • support and guidance – FAQ, Admin Essentials webinar, submitting coursework for the June 2023 series and submit for assessment
  • question of the week – UMS
  • professional development
  • blogs and podcasts.

If you need any further support, don't forget our Subject Advisors are always happy to answer your questions about our qualifications, resources and assessment.

Best wishes

Cambridge Nationals Team
support@ocr.org.uk
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Key dates and information for legacy qualifications
Student sitting at desk writing

Upcoming key dates and deadlines:

  • mark submission deadline for June 2023 series - 15 May 2023
  • certificates for January 2023 series issued by 31 May 2023.

If your students are entered for a moderated unit in the June 2023 series and you think you're not going to be able to submit your marks by 15 May, please ask your exams officer to request an extension via the special consideration online portal on Interchange as soon as possible. 
Key dates and information for current qualifications

Upcoming deadline:

  • mark submission deadline for June 2023 series - 15 May 2023.
If your students are entered for a moderated unit in the June 2023 series and you think you're not going to be able to submit your marks by 15 May, please ask your exams officer to request an extension via the special consideration online portal on Interchange as soon as possible. 
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Support and guidance
Male teacher sitting at a computer with colleagues also in the room

Online FAQs

Have a question about our current qualifications?  We've recently updated our FAQs for:

As always, if you can't find an answer, please do get in contact with us at support.ocr.org.uk. We're here to help.

Admin Essentials webinars

Are you new to OCR or would you like a refresher on our key administration processes? 

Join an Admin Essentials webinar (26 April or 5 July) where you'll get an understanding of processes including moderation methods, entries, non-exam assessment, malpractice, exams and results, post results and certificates.  

Book your place

Submitting coursework for the June 2023 series

As a reminder, the marks submission deadline is Monday 15 May 2023 but they can be submitted any time from now. We'll start to send out sample request emails from 3 May 2023, so if you've completed your moderation before then, why not submit your marks straight away, freeing up your time before the start of exams? Read our subject update for help with submitting marks and coursework.

Once you've received you're sample request email, you have 3 working days to send the work to your OCR moderator either via Submit for Assessment or by post. 

If you think you're not going to be able to submit by 15 May, please ask your exams officer to request an extension via the special consideration online portal on Interchange as soon as possible. 

 

Read subject update

What is Submit for Assessment?

It's our new digital submission service designed to improve your experience when uploading and submitting student work. It will replace OCR Repository and is a perfect way to avoid any possible disruption in the postal service plus it allows you to keep your students' original work safe.

How do I get set up?

If you're new to Submit for Assessment please speak to your exams officer and ask them to set you up. More information can be found on the Support and tools page of our website.  

Your exams officer has received detailed instructions on how to use Submit for Assessment.
Question of the Week - UMS

Our January results say they are ‘UMS’. What are these?

UMS is short for ‘uniform mark scale’. As assessments can vary in difficulty from one series to the next, a common scale, called the uniform mark scale or UMS, is used. This is to make sure students’ marks can be compared with those who take the unit in a different series.
Teachers with hands up asking a question

The raw marks (the actual marks the student achieved) are converted to UMS. We have examples of how this is done on our website.

See examples

The marks students receive on results day are the converted UMS mark. The raw and UMS boundaries can be found in our grade boundaries documents.

Is there an easy way for us to convert raw marks to UMS for our unit results?

Yes, you can use our handy converter tool to do this. This tool is updated every results day for the latest series.

Converter tool
Professional development
Teacher at computer screen on a video call with other teachers

Places are still available for some of our April professional development courses. 

If you're new to OCR and thinking of switching to a Cambridge National, we'd love you to join us at a 'Choosing OCR' session.

Choosing OCR - FREE

Ask the Moderator - FREE

Ask the Examiner - FREE

Preparing for the NEA

Enhancing your Teaching

We've a full programme of courses in the calendar for the rest of this academic year, so check out further dates which suit you.

View all upcoming courses
Blogs and podcasts

Read our latest blogs with useful advice and guidance. 
Laptop screen with list of blog articles on the screen

Creative iMedia subject advisor Debbie Williams discusses how to tackle the teaching of three optional units:

Health and Social Care and Child Development subject advisor Rebecca Simcox answers your questions about the NEA for:

🎙️ New podcast: student wellbeing

What is student wellbeing, and what impact does it have on students' abilities in and out of the classroom? Listen as subject advisor for Health & Social Care and Child Development, Rebecca Simcox discusses student wellbeing with two teachers from King Edward VI Northfield School for Girls. Our guests chatted about their school's approach to mental health and wellbeing, tips and advice for parents/carers for supporting young people, building student resilience and more. 
 
Listen to podcast
 
Find us on your preferred podcast channel including Amazon Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Audible and Spotify.

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