Coronavirus Support
BSME is aware that measures to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus are increasing. BSME follows the guidance of the FCO and local authorities. Please note that it is the visiting delegates' responsibility to ensure that all permissions required to attend any BSME event from relevant local authorities (e.g. Ministry of Education) are in place and valid for the duration of the trip/event, and all insurances (e.g. medical, travel) are in place for the duration of the trip/event.
Any individual presenting symptoms must not attend BSME events under any circumstances.
Resources
- Examination Boards
- HE
- GOV.UK
- KHDA
- Guidance for Re-opening Schools
- National Governance Association
- Partner Offers
- Safe Livestreaming
Examination Boards
Ofqual GCSE and A level consultation outcomes and autumn exam series
The following examination boards are regularly updating their communication on their websites:
A message for OxfordAQA schools - 4 June 2020
This week saw the start of a process nobody expected would be needed at the beginning of the year.
In these difficult circumstances, we remain committed to being as fair as we can to all students. This means we have asked you to take on a new and vital responsibility regarding awarding grades to your students this year. We did this because we recognise that you know your students best, and so are best-placed to judge what they would have been capable of achieving if they had sat their exams as planned.
We also recognise how hard teachers have worked throughout April and May to decide on the grades and rank orders, and we want to say thank you. We also want to thank Exams Officers, who are doing a great job of adapting to completely new processes this summer. Without all your work, we simply wouldn't be able to award your students the qualifications they need to progress to the next stage of their lives.
The window for submitting your centre assessment grades and rank orders in our Grade Entry Portal opened on Monday 1st June, and we are grateful to everyone who has already entered their data. The Grade Entry Portal will close on Friday 12th June 2020.
If you need us, we are here to support you. Please take a look at our Grade Entry Portal video guides for teachers and exam officers, and also our Guidance Document which contains Q&As and information.
If you have any questions, our team are here to help. You can contact your local Qualification Consultant, or click here.
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AS and A-level entries
OxfordAQA Guidance Document to include more information about the different options available to students with unit entries. Download it here.
We have added more Q&As to the Guidance Document, and updated our website News page to match. You can also find lots of information on producing centre assessment grades for your students and rank ordering in this this video.
Entry fees
We're pleased to let you know that we have postponed our planned winter series fee increases. We know the current situation is challenging for everyone, and we hope this helps to offer a little extra peace of mind.
It also means that the cost will remain the same for students who wish to resit their AS or A-level exams in our January series.
Important Dates
Monday 18th May - final deadline for making and withdrawing entries for the summer series
Monday 1st June - the submission window for centre assessed grades and rank orders opens
Friday 12th June - submission window closes
Latest updates
Click here to view the CIE update 06.05.20
Predicting Grades and Creating Rank Orders Factsheet
Predicting Grades and Creating Rank Orders Video
Click here to view the CIE update 28.04.20
CIE factsheet on Gathering and Using Evidence to set Predictive Grades for the June 2020 Series
CIE Regulations Supplement for the June 2020 Series for Heads of Centre and Centre Staff
Click here to view the CIE update 21.04.20
Click here to view the FOBISIA/CIE Webinar 31.03.20
Update 23 June 2020: As you will be aware, the IB holds two examination sessions per year; one in May and one in November. In the Middle East, schools enter candidates for the May session, but on occasion will also utilize the November session for a small number of retake candidates.
The IB November session is delivered in over 130 countries across the world. Therefore, in delivering a November examination session there is a need to consider IB candidates in the Middle East and IB candidates across in the globe. In taking these decisions we have considered:
Fairness – to be as equitable as is reasonably possible to all our candidates across the globe, giving all candidates the opportunity to demonstrate the full range of their ability and recognize the impact on teaching and learning.
Comparability – to maintain comparability of outcomes year-on-year, recognizing the primary uses of these qualifications.
Uncertainty – to provide contingency plans for any disruption that may be caused by Covid-19 in individual countries or schools.
Timing – to provide as much notice as possible to our schools of our decisions so that they can plan as best as possible.
On this basis, following due diligence taken through our internal governance committees that have external representation at Board level, we have taken the following decisions:
· The November 2020 examination session will go ahead.
· We will provide contingency mitigations for schools that face disruption and aren’t able to complete exams due to Covid-19. This will allow us to award qualifications to candidates in these schools. This contingency may be modelled on actions we took for May 2020.
To prepare for eventuality of this contingency we will require all schools to submit all candidate internal assessment. Usually schools are only required to submit a sample of work. By submitting all work, it will enable the IB to make awards having seen and mark at least one piece of a student’s work before we award a grade in that subject[1]. This aligns with the steps we took in May 2020 when all exams globally were cancelled.
· We may apply further mitigations through setting grade boundary so that the overall performance of students will be taken into consideration and the overall outcomes will be comparable with previous years.
The IB has published N20 additional guidance for the completion of internal and other non-examination/coursework assessment components for DP subjects. This document provides additional guidance for schools completing coursework assessment (for IB’s November 2020 session) remotely due to school closures. The document shares guidance and advice on how teachers can support students working remotely to undertake this work. This document supports schools in completing internal and other non-examination/coursework components for DP subjects both during the time they were closed and, in the eventuality, that there is disruption between now and deadlines to complete and submit work.
The IB considered but rejected the following decisions:
Delaying exams – it was felt there was insufficient information on the benefits of delaying exams. A delay in exams would necessitate a delay in the issue of results.
Reducing the number of exams and/or examined content – it was felt that this would have had led to unfairness and an uneven benefit to our global cohort who are in varying places in their learning journey.
Creating new additional internal assessment to replace exams – this may have negatively impacted on expectations and well-being of students. In creating these new internal assessments tasks, we would have also had to forgo many of our usual quality assurance steps.
For our November 2020 examinations, we will continue to monitor the situation and will take different decisions should circumstances warrant it. I trust that this provides some assurance to your schools of the actions we have taken and are taking so that you can be assured that IB students’ interests are being served.
View the IB Statement on May 2020 MYP On-Screen Examinations 01.04.20
To find out more about UK university applications, please visit the UCAS website.
HE
University Entrance Plans for International School Students during Coronavirus
How are universities preparing for their new September 2020 international student intake in the wake of coronavirus? What if Plan B countries remain under restrictive measures?
A webinar recently hosted by ISC Research, featuring UK and US universities, offers advice for international school college counsellors and others supporting international students preparing for higher education. The webinar featured the following speakers:
- Jennifer M. Mathews, Director of International Admissions at Syracuse University, New York, United States
- Kieron Broadhead, Executive Director of Student Experience at the University of Southampton, UK
- Kyra Kellawan, International Education Consultant. Former international schools college counsellor and international officer at King’s College London
- Diane Glass, Commercial Director at ISC Research
This webinar includes details of how universities are supporting incoming undergraduates while coronavirus remains a barrier to mobility, how universities are preparing to manage the challenge of extended border closures, university selection planning advice for future international students and their parents, and potential changes to universities to support international students longer term.
GOV.UK
Oak National Academy - is a brand-new enterprise created by 40 teachers from some of the leading schools across England and backed by government grant funding. It will provide 180 video lessons each week, created by teachers for teachers, across a broad range of subjects from maths to art to languages, for every year group from Reception through to Year 10.
The BBC is delivering an education package across TV and online, featuring celebrities and teachers – helping to keep children learning and supporting parents. Three new lessons every weekday with videos, activities and more.
Further details on all types of remote learning can be found on GOV.UK
KHDA
As part of KHDA's response to the closure of schools in Dubai, they have set up a microsite to share various education resources. Please click here for further information.
Guidance for Re-opening Schools
UNESCO Framework for Reopening Schools
Advice on Re-opening from Kellett Hong Kong
Roadmap to Re-Opening from BSME UK Consultant, John Bocking
National Governance Association
The NGA has made COVID-19 resources available for free that are usually only open to ‘Gold Governing Board’ members; these resources are of a high quality. The NGA has also opened an advice line for all governors relating to the information sheets please email gold@nga.org.uk or call 0121 237 3782. View the current NGA information sheets and appendices below; more may be added in future on the NGA website:
Issue 8: The role of GB in reducing the impact of school closures on disadvantaged pupils – 4 June 2020
Issue 7: The role of GB in the safe re-opening of schools – 26 May 2020
Issue 6: Guidance on carrying out the staffing functions of the GB + appendix – 14 May 2020
Issue 5: Supporting schools to deal with bereavement + appendix – 30 April 2020
Issue 4: Safeguarding information for GB – 2 April 2020
Issue 3: Immediate priorities for GB – 19 March 2020
Issue 2: School closures due to COVID-19 –18 March 2020
Issue 1: Your school’s response to COVID-19 – 12 March 2020
Two further articles on the website as well as answers to a series of FAQs may be of interest and will continue to be updated:
Responsibility and Decision Making During Covid-19
The Governing Board's Role in the Safe Reopening of Schools
Partner Offers
Finalsite
We cannot look in the rearview mirror. Planning for September happens now — and as the doors to your physical campus remain closed, the doors to your Digital Campus are open.
Join your colleagues from around the globe and Finalsite's in-house experts for a free six-week course that will ensure you hit the ground running in the fall with the tools and strategies in place to attract and engage families, streamline communications, and make meaningful connections even when face-to-face opportunities are limited.
Summer Camp runs from July 13 - August 20. All video lessons are pre-recorded so you can watch and learn at your own pace!
Sign up here.
Gooseberry Planet
The world has changed dramatically in the last few months, and the use of e-Learning resources has grown at a phenomenal rate. Furloughed workers are being encouraged to take up free online courses in digital skills so that they are better equipped to work remotely and to improve their employability when lockdown ends. READ MORE.
Have you heard of Zoom Bombing? There is a growing trend of trolling through these platforms. READ MORE
BlueSky Education
Find out more about BlueSky's FREE CPD webinar programme, supporting leaders and teachers in navigating the challenges of the current situation facing schools.
Anyone can register for a webinar – you do not need to be BlueSky members.
- BlueSky members book via Training > Public Training Directory in BlueSky
- Non-BlueSky members click here to register
Learning Ladders
Learning Ladders is an online and in-class formative assessment system for Primary schools that brings together students, teachers and parents to improve children's learning.
We provide each with the tools they need to be the best they can possibly be, every single day.
We’re trusted by hundreds of schools across the world, and have been shortlisted for “Best Product to Support Teaching, Learning and Assessment” every year since launch, winning in 2020. Our customer satisfaction metrics are consistently close to 100%.
Persyou
Hello, and welcome to Persyou ‘The Talks’, brought to you by Persyou, a bespoke leadership and transition coaching company with a mission to create, nurture and develop inspiring leadership across the global education sector. In this series of conversations, Director of Persyou, Nicholas McKie, will bring you cutting edge stories from across the global education sector delving into the minds of recognised leaders to find out about the challenges and main issues they are facing and how they are responding in times of uncertainty.
Scanning Pens
Scanning Pens, the award winning education company is offering free trials to parents in the UK, US, CA & AU and to BSME Schools to support literacy progression.
DK
DK, the illustrated publisher, has launched a new Stay Home Hub. This hub will host DK's best downloadable resources and digital activity packs, to keep you, your children, and your students as curious and as connected as ever. In addition, there will also be plenty of daily video activities from DK authors on their social media channels. Don't forget the DKfindout! website, the safe online space for children to learn and explore and for teachers to download free resources to plan their homeschooling lessons and projects.
RSAcademics
The surveys will help you to identify areas of online provision in which you are doing particularly well, and also any aspects which might benefit from further development. They use the same platform as our SchoolPulse suite of in-depth parent/staff/alumni perception surveys, but are considerably pared-down to make them very quick and easy for you to use.
As a gesture of support and solidarity in the context of our current challenges, the surveys are offered to you free of charge.
Fiction Express
SAM Labs
- Access to free Virtual resources and activities
- Free virtual lessons
- Free Professional Development webinars
- SAM Labs STEAM Global Competition
LearnersCloud
LearnersCloud is a learning platform that brings hundreds of in-depth, interactive HD videos to your computer, or mobile device. Each are led by real tutors and include test and learn questions across the syllabus.
They're fun, easy to follow and really bring learning to life. This will help students obtain a better understanding of their subject and in turn allow them to gain higher results.
Our product also has features that will help both teachers and parents get involved in their children/pupils' learning.
LearnersCloud covers International and local syllabi. The subjects we offer are Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and English, which is included as a bonus. Our content is relevant for leading International Cambridge and Edexcel (iGCSE) and GCSE boards, along with all local examination boards for these subjects.
M2R
Unifrog
2Simple
Bluesky
Tes
Tes have created a coronavirus support hub offering free resources, courses and online mentoring to help you and your staff during this time. You’ll also find here links to the most up-to-date news from our editorial team as the situation develops.
To support parents and guardians through this time, we’ve also gathered a collection of resources to support them with structuring and delivering Home Learning for children.
Abjadiyat
Abjadiyat, a leading Arabic learning platform for KG-G4 is proud to be supporting the e-learning initiatives. Our platform will be available for the duration of school closures for free. Abjadiyat has a simple registration process for schools and parents. You will have access to crafted content by lead linguists, technicians and artists. Contact us to subscribe as a school or parent.
GCSEPod
Coronavirus Guarantee: Subscribe now and if school is closed, equivalent period added to subscription FREE. GCSEPod is the gold standard of online learning, assessment, tracking and monitoring, anytime, anywhere. Under £1.35 per student per month. Exam-mapped, published to rigorous QA standards. Dedicated Project Manager. Quick set up, intuitive, engaging. Bespoke closure resources included.
Perfect for school closures, invaluable when normality returns.
WCBS
WCBS are offering 30% off their fully streamlined cloud-native admissions solution, HUBapply, exclusively to BSME member schools. With two-thirds of schools not meeting their enrolment goals, it’s more essential than ever to invest in an intuitive, scalable admissions process. What’s more, HUBapply is accessible anywhere, at any time on any device, even in uncertain circumstances.
Kognity
Has your school been affected by the coronavirus? Kognity is offering free access for schools affected by lockdowns to our online learning platform for schools teaching the IB, IGCSE and GCSE. Fill out the form below for more information.
Follett
Follett are pleased to be able to support schools around the world with free access to an eLearning platform housing more than 4000 eBooks and interactive books. Schools are not required to be current Follett customers to access these resources. Register here for access. For Destiny Library Manager users, Follett are also able to provide access to Classroom Ready Collections providing K-12 resources put together by teachers for teachers. Both are available until June 30, 2020. Please contact us at international@follett.com to register your interest. Further details about Follett’s eLearning resources can be found here.
Learning Ladders
Ensure your Parents know how to help at home during the Coronavirus Disruption.
Doddle by GL Education
Doddle – from GL Education – is an online learning and homework platform with 23,000 resources across 18 subjects. We’re currently offering schools 18 month subscriptions for the price of 12, as well as 15% off the Doddle Suite. With Doddle, you can set all your homework online and make use of our high-quality resources, which students can access independently.
Firefly
We want to play our part and support as many schools as we can in very difficult circumstances, so we are extending free access to the core elements of our platform to schools in need until the end of next term.
In addition, we've pulled together best practices and our learning team will be running a series of webinars to show how to implement distance learning.
Real Training
To support our colleagues in British international schools in the Middle East, we are happy to offer a £75 discount on all of our online courses. To find out more about what Real Training can offer your school you can visit realtraining.co.uk or get in contact with one of our expert course advisors either via email (info@realgroup.co.uk) or phone +44 (0) 1273 358080. When you book online, please quote BSME75 in the notes section and we will process the discount on your invoice.
Century Tech
To help schools affected by coronavirus, CENTURY is offering its AI-powered learning tool for free during the entire duration of the closure.CENTURY creates a personalised learning path for each student and is perfect for independent learning at home. It also enables teachers to monitor students’ performance and perform timely, targeted interventions. If you’re worried about a potential closure, get in touch with CENTURY who can set up your free school account within 24 hours.
Evidence Based Education
To lend support to schools that have closed and moved to online learning, or schools facing this prospect, we have produced a podcast on delivering assessment and feedback in an online context.
Tootoot
In response to these challenging times Tootoot want to support BSME schools in ensuring their high levels of safeguarding can continue. We are offering you an exclusive opportunity to join tootoot, our award-winning safeguarding app, at a significantly reduced price.
A discount of 50% on a one-year tootoot licence. Opportunity to renew at the discounted price for the following two years.
Swiss Leadership Camp
Flexible booking. During this time of uncertainty any school booking our Leadership Camp or Leadership Workshop for 20-21, will get a full refund should they choose to cancel.
Harper Collins
We can offer your school complimentary access to online resources such as eBooks and online platforms to continue studying during school closures, there is no need to currently be a Collins customer. Contact us by email collins.middleeast@harpercollins.co.uk for more info.
Discovery Education
If a school subscribes to Discovery Education Espresso or Discovery Education Coding, teacher and pupil home access to the entire service is included in your subscription providing an ideal scenario for pupils to continue their learning. Should your school not subscribe to one of these services please contact us to discuss how we can support your school during a period of extended closure.
Veema
These are challenging times for all of us and Veema Education will continue to support and provide you with the resources you and your schools need to access outstanding professional development. Starting next week we are hosting free webinars, mentoring & online training on a range of subject matters. To find out more about the range of programmes we’re introducing and how we plan to digitally connect educators globally, visit our website for daily updates or email our Director Costa Constantinou for an informal chat.
Next week’s webinars include:
"Climate and Culture – Why are these critical elements in determining the
success of a school?"
"Supporting Online Learning"
Engage
To help schools through this difficult time, Engage is offering significant reduced costs that can be applied to current or future purchases. Please email to arrange an exploratory demonstration. Features include:
Communication – Important updates keep school community close
"Learning – Integral system for sharing lesson plans and homework"
Integration - Work with Seqta, Canvas, Schoolbox, Firefly, Frog, Moodle, Titus and more
TextHelp
Texthelp have a range of software tools that can help with remote and online learning. Integrating with all popular platforms including Google Classroom, they provide teachers and students with powerful ways to create, assign and share maths resources, help practice reading aloud, assess writing, complete worksheets and provide literacy support – all online.
Whether you are an existing customer or completely new to their products, visit their website to find out how they can help you get what you need and get access to a range of resources that can get you started quickly.
TT Education
CPD Webinars from TT Education provide award-winning professional development from home. With over 30 to choose from, each webinar is available to International Schools as a school-wide licence, meaning all staff can log in to access superb training from anywhere with an internet-connected device. Attendees can ask questions, pause, rewind … and each webinar is viewable again for 6 months.
OUP
Oxford University Press supporting British Schools in the Middle East Wherever you teach, wherever you learn, we’re with you. To support distance teaching and learning across the Middle East, Oxford University Press has made a huge range of digital resources freely available. Get immediate access to our eBooks library, Oxford AQA assessment resources, Professional Development modules and materials to support IB, International GCSE and A-level qualifications.
