Home education

4. Examinations

Home-educated children and young people who sit exams are private candidates.

You will need to contact an exam centre to register your child as a private candidate to sit their exams. Please be aware you will be charged for examinations.

It is important to decide what examinations your child will be taking. This may be based on your child's future aspirations. You may wish to contact Positive Steps to discuss Post 16 choices.

Examinations and examination boards

If you want your child to continue with GCSE courses started in school, please find out which exam boards the school uses. You would need to contact the school and find out this information.

Once you know the exam boards your child will follow, visit their website. The sites can provide key information for you and your child about the exams. They may have past papers available to help with preparation.

Lots of GCSEs taken in schools and colleges include coursework or assessments. This would have to be marked by teachers or assessors. Due to this, many home educated children take iGCSE examinations. This is exam based only and does not require coursework or assessments.

Many schools and colleges don't seem to be registered with the Cambridge (CIE and OCR) boards. They are unable to offer examinations with the boards above.

Examination centres

Your child would sit their exams as a private candidate. You need to call the exam centre to book a spot. You should contact exam centres no later than January prior to the summer exams.

You may also be required to pay an administration fee to the exam centre along with the exam entry fee. You can also discuss access requirements at this time.

Further information

Home Education Exams Wiki - HE Exams Wiki website

How to book an exam - Oxford Open Learning website

Exam entry fees - AQA website

Exams and qualifications,the Education Hub - GOV.UK

Private Candidates - Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) website

The JCQ website allows you to search for local exam centres