What a strange few months it has been for us all – not just in the sector, but across the world!

Here at Certa Access, we wanted to touch base and let you know we are still here, ready to support you with your questions, worries and curriculum plans. Many of you will have been in contact with our AVA team over recent months to ensure students receive their Diplomas, this support will continue.

Staff will be working across the summer to make sure you have what you need to provide the best experience for students.

We have some key dates to remember:

13 -24 July

Student Appeals window (process not grades) – process, and application have been issued to centres and can be found in OneDrive.

25 July

UCAS results upload deadline (Certa Access)

Summer 2020 Appeals application form and guidance

Students can download the Guidance and application forms from our Student Information page, under the FAQ section.

Certificates

Certificates will be printed and dispatched once we can physically attend the Certa office. We are looking at options to provide e-Certificates and should be able to get these out to you shortly.

External Moderator Reports

The AVA team is now finalising visit reports and will send them out to you over the next week or so. We have a new Quality role for 2019/20 for centres with multiple sites, large provision and new provision to Certa. Centre EMs will compile a summary report of all provision at that Centre to support standardisation of processes and practice.

New Access to HE Diplomas

The development team have been working hard, with plenty of collaboration from our centre curriculum experts and external experts, to have four super diploma’s ready for launch. You will be able to register students to these from September.

These are:

• Access to HE Diploma (Social Work)
• Access to HE Diploma (Policing)
• Access to HE Diploma (Creative Performance)
• Access to HE Diploma (Environmental Science)

If you would like to offer these to students, please get in touch via accesstohe@certaaccess.co.uk

Events - Getting ready for the new academic year 2020/21

All of these events will shortly be on the Skills and Education Group events page for you to book your place, we'll keep you updated on when they're available to book.

• Getting Started with Access to HE – covering how to get going and supporting new tutors – 26 August@ 10am (remotely)
• Delivery methods – adapting to blended and Online learning
• Registering new Students – introduction to Certa’s Portal 27 August@ 10am (remotely)
• Methods of assessments – writing appropriate assessment tasks
• Grading Access to HE including agreeing on a mid-point for a unit grade
• Preparation for internal and external Standardisation
• The quality process- preparing for External Moderation
• Bespoke training by centre request
• Beginners Guide to Assessment (October date TBC)
• Importance of Standardisation (October date TBC)

Whatever you need training on we will look to support it. Please contact accesstohe@certaaccess.co.uk if you have any questions about the above events.

Don’t forget that Skills and Education group members get access to regular professional development events, online resources and depending upon the level of membership, a bespoke session for your organisation.

AVA Clinics

These will continue via Zoom over the summer for any updates we need to provide you with and an opportunity for you to ask questions. The AVA team will continue to send you links for you to join.

Book a telephone call or online chat with us

Kaye and Julie are available over the summer, if you need anything or want to discuss plans for September. We are happy to have a chat over the phone, via email or using Zoom/MSTeams.

Have a great summer and we look forward to working with you going forward.

Best Wishes

Certa Access Team