Pupil assessment is evolving, and ISEB is committed to providing schools, teachers, parents and pupils with the best research, assessment designs, access arrangement guidance and new features to support all children.
When reviewing our assessments, we commissioned research from leading neuroscientists that make provision for those with SEND and neurodiverse children. Using that underpinning research, we can confidently provide schools and parents with guidelines to help ensure that access arrangement decisions are fair to all.
ISEB’s core values are to accept, transform and inspire. These values underpin the widely researched ISEB CE Access Arrangement guidelines.
The CE curriculum is specifically designed for pupils in Years 7 and 8 and can be used as part of the admissions pathway into senior schools, or as a milestone of achievement.
Therefore, an access arrangement decision should be made that follows the ISEB CE Access Arrangements guidelines and that decision is only valid for CE examinations (i.e. an access arrangement decision made by a senior school for a pupil taking CE is not indicative of a decision which may be made for any other tests including a senior school’s own entrance examinations, written tests, SATS, GCSEs, A Levels or any other qualifications).
Underpinned by research which supports the design principles of the ISEB CE examinations, this document will outline the access arrangements suitable for SEND pupils and give guidance to senior schools on making their decision on whether access arrangements should be provided, ensuring that access arrangement decisions are fair to all.
Schools with SEND candidates should contact the relevant senior school to discuss each candidate’s needs.
Access Arrangements considered include (but are not limited to):
Senior Schools will decide whether a pupil should be given any of these access arrangements based on evidence of need (by way of a professional assessor’s report) and normal way of working. By ‘normal way of working’, we mean that the pupil regularly receives that support as part of normal classroom practice.
As each child’s needs are unique, an access arrangement request could span a range of provisions. The following guidelines should help senior schools to make their decision on whether, and which, access arrangements will be given for CE examinations. Due to the diversity of pupils’ needs, this guidance does not list every circumstance where it may be appropriate to use access arrangements. If, after following our guidelines, a senior school is unsure whether the request is suitable for the CE, they are welcome to contact ISEB to discuss the individual request.
ISEB recommends that senior schools review each request based on evidence of the needs of the individual child and their normal way of working, and how these will affect them when accessing the CE examinations.
Senior schools will wish to refer to their own admissions policies and SEND processes, but where any specific decisions about requests for access arrangements of the CE examinations are being made (especially in SEND Appeal cases) this Access Arrangement Guidance should be used.
Access arrangements must never advantage or disadvantage any pupil or affect the integrity of the CE examinations.
Evidence of the needs of the individual child and their normal way of working should be sent by the junior school to the senior school using the ISEB SEND Report.
We expect that those applying for access arrangements may be pupils with visual impairments; learning, communication and interaction needs; a medical condition; sensory, physical, social or mental and emotional needs. This may result in difficulties with reading, writing, concentrating, and/or processing.
We expect that the evidence required by the senior schools will likely include an Educational Psychologist (EP) report (usually no older than 24 months) and/or letter outlining the child’s normal way of classroom working (as defined by their current school/Special Educational Needs Coordinator) giving details of:
Access arrangement requests are not guaranteed until the senior school confirms approval.
When considering an application for extra time, senior schools should seek answers to the following questions, from the evidence submitted:
Pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), or who are waiting on confirmation of one; should automatically be given 25% extra time if needed.
Pupils who qualify for extra time may also be allowed the use of other access arrangements (an aid) as well as 25% extra time.
In some cases, it may be that a candidate requires more than 25% extra time. This should be agreed between the senior school and junior school based on the evidence given by a professional assessor.
Most pupils in this age range should be able to complete the tests without a break. However, supervised rest breaks may be needed for pupils who experience fatigue or who find it difficult to concentrate.
We expect that senior schools will allow supervised rest breaks where applicants show evidence of:
Pupils using supervised rest breaks should be given the same overall exam duration as the rest of their peers to complete the paper, unless they also qualify for 25% extra time. During supervised rest breaks, pupils should remain under test conditions.
Pupils who are unable to focus independently, or who lose concentration easily, may be aided by a prompter. The prompter should keep the pupil’s attention on the exam but not to help them answer any of the questions.
A prompter usually taps on the desk or says the pupil’s name, depending on what is normal working practice, to remind them to focus on the task.
We expect that senior schools will allow prompters where applicants:
ISEB commissioned specific research to clarify the academic, legal and scientific basis for allowing readers for the CE examinations.
The research found reading comprehension constitutes two interconnected areas, decoding text and language comprehension. Any candidate who has difficulty reading would be at a substantial disadvantage in accessing, and therefore demonstrating their skills/knowledge, in the language comprehension element of any reading comprehension assessment.
According to the Equality Act 2010 it is therefore a candidate’s legal right that reasonable adjustments are made for any candidate who has difficulty reading.
The Common Entrance is a paper-based examination and therefore allowing a computer or human reader in these circumstances would be a reasonable adjustment. This applies to candidates who use a computer or human reader as their normal way of working and candidates where their disability would make a computer or human reader for the examination a reasonable adjustment to make.
This is a reasonable adjustment because the academic evidence is clear that:
1.Readers allow equity of access to comprehension 2.Having a human reader offers no advantage over a computer reader.
The findings were that a reader can be used for all CE examinations, including all sections of the English Reading paper, where this need is evidenced by a professional assessor or is part of the pupil’s normal way of working in the classroom.
The provision of a reader for all pupils who have a reader as their normal way of working would constitute a reasonable adjustment for those who are considered disabled for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.
Pupils who have difficulty reading (e.g. have submitted evidence of lower than average reading speeds) may be supported by a human one-to-one reader who can read to the pupil as long as no additional information is given which could give the pupil an advantage over their peers.
For further information on the guidance for readers, please see Appendix 1.
ISEB can also provide PDF versions of the question papers for electronic reading programmes, where the senior school is in approval. Schools must contact ISEB well in advance of the examinations for information regarding the security procedures required for this provision.
For further information or advice about computer reading software, please contact ISEB via common-entrance@iseb.co.uk.
Senior schools may decide that reading aloud to himself/herself is a granted access arrangement for a pupil who provides evidence of this requirement. A separate room (with invigilator) should be provided as a pupil reading aloud is likely to disturb or aid others in the cohort.
ISEB approves the use of the Scanning Pens C-Pen Exam Reader 2 and C-Pen Reader 2, which were approved by the JCQ for reading support. A permitted examination reading pen does not have an in-built dictionary or thesaurus or a data storage facility.
The use of an examination reading pen, provided by the centre, might benefit those candidates who wish to work independently. It may increase the independence of candidates who needed a reader for accuracy rather than comprehension.
Where recommended, a computer/word processor may be used by candidates identified as having a specific learning need, if this is their normal way of working. During the examination, the computer/word processor must have the spelling and grammar check facility/predictive text disabled, and candidates must not have access to any web-enabled information or previously stored work.
Where suitable and appropriate, ISEB is able to provide a quote for an editable pdf for some of the CE examinations on request. Please note, this is not possible for all question types, however, a hybrid approach to digital and paper completion may be an option.
For information about how to administer a test in this way, please contact commonentrance@iseb.co.uk.
A scribe is a person who writes down answers dictated by the candidate during the exam. The use of a scribe must reflect normal classroom practice.
The scribe must:
The standard format for CE papers is as laid out in the table below.
Where a candidate requires a question paper on coloured paper and/or enlarged from A4 to A3, it is recommended that a PDF copy of the standard question paper is ordered from ISEB well in advance of the examinations, to ensure the best print quality.
For security reasons, the PDF will be sent to you securely after 4 p.m. the day before the exam.
If a candidate has specific requirements for modification to the papers, these must be made clear to ISEB at least one year in advance of the examination to obtain a quotation.
Ensure that a Notification of Access Arrangements form accompanies examination scripts, where appropriate, for those candidates granted access arrangements; this form can also be downloaded from the ISEB website and a copy must be included with the examination scripts for each subject.
Disclaimer: Please note that this guidance is for access arrangements for the ISEB Common Entrance (CE) examinations only. Any decisions made by the senior school or ISEB with regards to access arrangements are not valid for any other tests such as GCSEs or A level examinations.
A reader must not advantage or disadvantage the candidate, and must abide by the following, since failure to do so could lead to the disqualification of the candidate.
The reader:
For further details about the ISEB Common Entrance examinations please visit the ISEB website where you will find the most up-to-date information as well as a range of helpful guidance and support resources. www.iseb.co.uk/common-entrance.
COMMON ENTRANCE (CE) ACCESS ARRANGEMENTS
