Academic Year 2025 – 2026

Dear Student/Parent/Carer,

Summer 2026 External Examinations – Contingency Day/s

We need to bring to your attention some essential information to avoid any issues during this summer examinations session.

Students have been sent an individualised exam timetable via their school email which shows all the dates/timings of their exams. The summer exams usually run from early May, with Art exams and Language speaking exams taking place first, with formal written exams following throughout May and June.

Contingency exam day/s have been arranged by the exam boards. The contingency days have been arranged for GCSE exams, should sustained National or local disruption arise during the summer examination series.

Following the tragic evens of the Manchester attacks and the Grenfell Tower fire, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) put in place an option to postpone an exam/exams, in the event of an incident or disruption, and rearrange for a later date to allow all students a fair and equal change.

The date/s that have been set aside as the contingency days for 2026 are Wednesday 10 June and Wednesday 24 June. This means all exam candidates must be available to sit exams from the start of the exams in May through to and including 24 June 2026. This is not a School decision and applies to all candidates in all Schools.

Please make a note of these reserve exam dates. It will be common and completely understandable for families to want to book holidays in June and July for Y11 students, as prices are often lower when they have finished their exams. However, it will be devastating for a student to miss out on a good grade, after working hard for two years, because they might be absent from a rearranged exam/s and be awarded zero marks for that exam.

King Edward VII School