updated
12.0Access arrangements
| Key dates | |
|
November 2007 to 3 March 2008 5pm |
Period when applications for early opening and additional time can be made. |
| 18 April 2008 | Schools notified of decisions concerning applications for early opening and additional time via the ‘Test forms’ section of the NAA website at www.naa.org.uk/tests. |
The arrangements described in this section are adjustments that schools must consider in advance of the tests and should be based primarily on history of need and normal classroom practice for pupils with particular needs. Schools must have evidence to show that resources are routinely committed to providing this support. For details of the access arrangements available for the mental mathematics test, see section 12.12.
The tests have been designed to ensure the vast majority of pupils working at the level of the tests can access them. A small number of pupils may require additional arrangements to access the tests. The access arrangements must never provide an unfair advantage, the support given must not change the test questions and the answers must be the pupil’s own.
To ensure the questions in the tests are as accessible as possible, the NAA takes advice from a range of experts, consultants and special educational needs specialists, specialist teachers of pupils for whom English is an additional language and specialists who use British Sign Language or other sign-supported communication.
Permission must be requested from the NAA (for independent schools and academies) or local authorities (for local authority maintained schools) for some access arrangements, for example early opening or additional time. This permission must be requested every year, regardless of any access arrangements made in previous years.