New year activities & May 2023 exams

On behalf of the Directors and Officers I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year.  As we enter 2023 we have on the horizon the examination session in May, alongside changes in the Science specifications for September.  On top of these, we are also entering, what feels like, another new age with the rise of ChatGPT and other AI platforms.  Suffice to say, this will certainly keep us all very busy this term and beyond. 

The highlights of the next few months are our Spring Conference, where we will finally host our first face-to-face event since March 2020. There is more information in the Newsletter about the Conference, but it is already looking like an exciting programme and I would encourage you to book a place promptly as we do have a limit on the number of places we can offer (unlike our virtual events).  We are also running a number of free-to-members seminars, and details of these can be found here.  If there are subjects or areas you would like to see added to the seminar programme please let us know as these are intended to address development areas which you identify.

On the subject of start times for the May 2023 exams, I believe that some schools have begun to hear back from the IB regarding their exemptions submission.  If you do hear please let us know the outcome as we are closely monitoring the situation and are very happy to help individual schools if they meet resistance to their requests. As ever, we are strongest when dealing with the IB when we demonstrate the scale of the UK sector and the united tone of our appeals and requests. Please keep in touch with us about your ongoing experiences, and I include below the advice we sent out in December to help schools make their submission:

IB Exceptions Process
The IB is aware that contractual, logistical, or legal matters (for example school staffing or student transportation issues) may mean that a limited number of schools are not able to administer one or more exams as scheduled by the IB. Consequently, the school cannot supervise all students from the published start time and/or until the official end time.
 
In this situation, the IB has provided an exception process where schools can request a slightly earlier or later start time via the IB. Any authorised change to the start time would be limited to within an hour of the previously published start time.
 
If a school is faced with such logistical challenges or a legal situation preventing them from supervising students from the IB start time, they should contact support@ibo.org where this will be triaged and dealt with.
 
Please note:

• Schools cannot request a change simply because the schedule is inconvenient, nor can any unreasonable changes be made that may affect the security of the examination session.

• For quality assurance, the IB may ask a school to provide evidence to support a request.

In order to request a change, schools will need to complete a request to reschedule examinations via support@ibo.org and then through IBIS. 
 
In the request, the following information must be provided:
1.    Full details of the contractual, logistical, or legal matter.
2.    Date(s) and subject(s) affected.
3.    Steps the school will take to ensure exam security for those students that cannot be supervised.
4.    Confirmation that the school leadership is aware (and in support) of the request.

It just remains for me to wish you all a happy and productive term and I look forward to seeing you in person at Aston in March.

Richard Markham

CEO, IB Schools & Colleges Association