Exams Officer Newsletter
November 2025 |
|
|
Welcome to your monthly Exams Officer newsletter |
We hope you are settled into the autumn term and this new academic year 25/26 has started well.
Thank you to all centres who have successfully completed the Account Confirmation and T&C campaign by 28 October. Ensuring accounts are up-to-date improves security and supports Pearson with contacting the correct people when we need to.
We are heading into the November series and have highlighted notable news and information to help you run a smooth series, as well as looking ahead to upcoming key dates and events.
As always, we are here. If you need support, or want to provide us with feedback, reach out to us through the Pearson support portal.
Best wishes,
Pearson Communications |
This month's news and updates |
|
|
Date |
Activity |
| November |
Summer certification will begin to arrive in centres |
| 1 November |
BTEC registration deadline*: register your students on programmes that follow the academic year |
| 14 November |
High late fee entry deadline for BTEC January 2026 series |
| 15 November |
BTEC registration deadline*: register your L4 HNCs and L5 HNDs students that follow the academic year |
| 17 November |
Digital Learner Work Transfer (LWT) available for uploading work of sampled learners for internal assessments for BTEC Tech Awards (from 2022) for December/January series |
| 21 November |
Basedata available for AS/A level, AEA, Mathematics in Context (Level 3 Core Maths), Level 2 Extended Mathematics Certificate, GCSE, International GCSE, Entry Level Certificate, Level 1 and 2 Projects and Level 3 Extended Project (EPQ) for summer 2026 series |
| 21 November |
Basedata available for BTEC Firsts, L2 Technicals, Nationals and Tech Awards (from 2022) for summer 2026 series |
| 15 December |
Deadline for mark submission and upload of work of sampled learners for internal assessments for BTEC Tech Awards (from 2022) for December/January 2026 series |
| 31 December 2025 |
BTEC deletion deadline: deadline to delete learner registrations and receive a full refund for registrations made this academic year |
|
*For programmes that don’t follow the academic year, learners must be registered within six weeks of enrolment at the centre. |
|
|
Autumn & Winter: Essential Information |
|
|
To help you prepare for the autumn and winter terms ahead, we've put together this essential information article containing important knowledge on upcoming key dates, events, assessments, and available support and resources. |
|
|
Update on moderation sample size for internally assessed work
From the January 2026 series, for Project and BTEC Tech Award qualifications we’ll be asking for a larger sample size when moderating internally assessed work.
From June 2026 onwards this approach will also apply to GCSE, International GCSE, A level and Entry Level Certificate qualifications.
|
|
|
Replacement labels on the Yellow Label Service
We have introduced a new way for customers in England to order replacement Yellow labels, where they have been misplaced or in the case of late entries. The new process is to submit a request via a replacement labels form, and these will be emailed within 24 hours. |
|
|
Join us on our General Qualification 'Bitesize' webinars
If you're a new Exams Officer or just new to Pearson general qualifications, you might have questions about the administration of these. We are running a series of interactive, engaging live events which are dedicated to specific GQ admin processes, providing in depth guidance and include demonstrations on the completion of the process specified.
Why not join us for our next GQ & VQ Bitesize event focusing on Modified Papers, taking place on Tuesday, 16 December 11am-12pm. |
Don't worry if you missed any! You can always watch the recording of any event on our support article. |
|
|
Provisional timetables
The provisional timetables for GCSE and International GCSE for November 2026 will be available on our website from Wednesday 22 October. These can be found on our provisional timetables webpage.
The feedback window will run until Friday 14 November.
Please send any feedback to timetables@pearson.com. |
|
|
Modified papers
We have begun despatch of the November 2025 modified question papers. All orders for large print or Braille, will arrive separately to standard exam materials and will be in a green tamper proof packaging. Looking ahead to January and June 2026, read the latest update to ensure you order on time. |
|
|
Autumn Question Paper Despatch
If your candidates are resitting their GCSE Maths or English exams in November, you should have now received your question papers. You can track your question papers on Edexcel Online. The yellow label service is in place for this series for centres in England to return scripts.
If you require electronic copies of these question papers, please check your EOL accounts have access to our Secure Download Service (SDS) service. If you need SDS adding to a member of staff that requires it, please contact us to arrange a secure call back. Delays can occur if access isn't set up appropriately. Discovery of printing errors would need to be raised with customer service; please don't return these with the rest of the scripts. |
|
|
Very Late Entries
Any late / additional entries made within a week prior to the timetabled exam date, will not result in a hard copy being sent to your centre. You would need to print electronic copies via the Secure Download Service.
If you are making an entry for the first time this series for a new subject/paper, please contact us to request the question paper to be sent via Secure File Transfer (SFT). This also includes late transferred candidate applications. |
|
|
Edexcel Award – January Series
You can expect to receive standard and modified question papers for the Edexcel Award January series from Monday 24 November, which is available to track on Edexcel Online. Attendance registers and labels should be received from Monday 8 December. |
|
|
Explore your BTEC key dates and term-time checkpoints for 2025/26 |
|
|
It’s easier to stay on track throughout the year when you know exactly what’s coming up. That’s why, shaped by your feedback, we’ve created the BTEC key dates and term-time checkpoints guide for 2025/26 to help you plan with confidence for the year ahead. |
|
|
Government white paper on skills and post-16 education
On 20 October, the government published its white paper on skills and post-16 education. We know you’ll have questions about how these proposals might affect your students and the qualifications you teach.
|
|
|
Join us on our BTEC 'Bitesize' webinars
If you're new to BTEC, Edexcel Online may suddenly feel like a very strange place. Perhaps you've been in role for a number of years and just need a refresher! We will be running a series of interactive, engaging live events which are dedicated to specific BTEC admin processes, providing in depth guidance and demonstrations of the processes.
Why not join us for our BTEC Bitesize event, focusing on Entries and External Assessments, taking place on Tuesday, 25 November 11am-12pm. |
Don't worry if you missed any! You can always watch the recording of any event on our support article. |
|
|
BTEC National AAQs: check your registrations and funding in England Winter
As you make your new student registrations for this academic year, you need to be aware of upcoming changes affecting centres in England who drawn down DfE funding.
Some predecessor BTEC National qualifications are still available for self-funded programmes, and students outside of England. When you're registering students for any of the new AAQ qualifications, look for ‘AAQ’ in the title to avoid accidentally registering on predecessor qualifications. |
|
|
BTEC Tech Awards: changes to moderation sample sizes for internally assessed work |
From the January 2026 series, we’ll be asking for a larger sample size when moderating internally assessed work for BTEC Tech Award qualifications.
The deadline to submit learner marks and samples for this series is the 15 December 2025.
|
|
|
When to expect your January series question papers
We’ll start despatching standard and modified question papers for the BTEC January series from Wednesday 10 December. You should start receiving attendance registers, learners place cards and labels from the week commencing 24 November. If you want to check your tracking information, reach out to us via the Pearson support portal.
|
|
|
UK Webinar Events
We will host a series of online Exams Officer Updates during 2025/2026. These live events go through news, updates and various areas to support you in the coming month. |
If you were unable to attend our event in October, you can access the recording on the support portal. |
|
|
Find out everything you need to know to manage examinations and administer our qualifications.
|
|
Our new dedicated space for Exams Officer training created to offer enhanced support.
|
|
|
JCQ
Published on 15 Oct 2025.
Sign up to future updates.
|
|
Ofqual
Keep up-to-date with the latest news and blogs.
|
|
|
The Exams Office
Working in collaboration with Dfe, Ofqual, JCQ and awarding bodies.
|
|
Social media
Join our Facebook community to stay up to date with news.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
