West Midlands SFC Exam Efficiency Consortium Saves £75k
1. Exam Procurement –
West Midlands SFC Exam
Efficiency Consortium
Dr. Esther Maughan, Principal
King Edward VI College, Nuneaton
Mrs Nicky Burden, Exam Officer
King Edward VI College, Nuneaton
4. 11 Colleges were initially invited to
participate in a bid to obtain funding for
Exam Procurement. 4 responses were
received and the consortium of 5 Colleges
was set up in March 2011
The Bid was put forward to AoC and 157 Group’s Collaboration and
Shared Services Grant.
Memorandums & Articles of Association were drawn up between the
group.
Having initially got the group off the ground other colleges then tried
to join, however during the bid process the numbers were limited to
the initial 5
FE Sussex were brought into the project to act as a consultancy very
early on to get the project off the ground, by utilising the skills &
contact of Tim Stickland. It became apparent that without a Project
Lead the project was at risk as there would be no one to drive the
project forward.
5. To Establish scalable Group
purchasing to leverage discounted
fees from major awarding suppliers
To save £75k in YEAR 1
6. • Value for money
◦ - A discount for our largest purchase
◦ - Free CPD
◦ - Sponsorship for Awards Ceremonies
• Service
◦ - Ease of contact and availability
◦ - Accurate & concise information
◦ - Someone who takes action
7. Awarding bodies over the years have increased exam
fees, but yet have passed the majority of admin tasks
and costs associated with entries and results onto
the exam office staff.
The introduction of Electronic Data Interchange (Edi)
Web based Results
Enquiry About Result (EAR) downloads
Online marking systems
8. Exam fees amount to a major spend within any General FE
or Sixth Form College.
£160,000.00
£140,000.00
£120,000.00
Stoke On Trent
£100,000.00
Cadbury
£80,000.00 Shrewsbury *
£60,000.00 King Edward 6th
Worcester
£40,000.00
£20,000.00
£0.00
AQA £ EDEXCEL £ OCR £ WJEC £
10. First Stage
Gather together consortium exam data to provide a useful
guide for future working, in realising which boards are
currently being used across the consortium.
Once gathered this information has been useful to provide
a working document highlighting the areas for
development to work with the examination boards and
provide a basis for target areas of CPD.
11. College College College College College
Subjects Offered 2012-13 2012-13 2012-13 2012-13 2012-13
Accounting AQA AQA AQA AQA
Applied Business OCR EDEXCEL
Applied Science AQA
Archeology AQA AQA
Art - Graphic Design OCR EDEXCEL AQA
Art - Jewellery OCR
Art - Photography WJEC OCR AQA EDEXCEL AQA & EDEXCEL
Art - Textiles OCR EDEXCEL
Art 3D Design OCR AQA
Art Fine Art WJEC OCR AQA EDEXCEL AQA
Baccalaureate AQA
Biology OCR AQA OCR OCR AQA
Business Studies OCR AQA AQA OCR AQA
Chemistry OCR OCR OCR OCR OCR
Citizenship AQA AQA
Classic Civilisation AQA OCR OCR AQA
Computing WJEC OCR WJEC AQA & WJEC
Critical Thinking OCR AQA OCR OCR OCR
Dance AQA AQA AQA
Design Technology EDEXCEL AQA AQA AQA
Drama EDEXCEL AQA EDEXCEL EDEXCEL
Economics OCR AQA AQA AQA
Electronics WJEC AQA
English Lang & Lit AQA EDEXCEL AQA EDEXCEL AQA & EDEXCEL
English Language AQA AQA AQA AQA WJEC
English Literature AQA WJEC OCR AQA OCR
Environmental Studies AQA AQA AQA
Extended Project AQA EDEXCEL AQA AQA
Film Studies WJEC WJEC WJEC WJEC WJEC
12. OCR – CHEMISTRY
Ask the Subject Expert Event
Friday 9 November 2012
In attendance: ALL consortium Chemistry staff
“I found the Would you
“could have
meeting very recommend an
done longer”
useful and hope event to
we keep in colleagues? 10/10
contact” “would be
“As long as staff know good for
the background of the
meetings and can teachers to
“networking influence the agenda”
meet
very useful” annually”
13. 2011
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Memorandums & Initial Contact Quarter 1 Funding
157 Group Bid Article signed OCR received
2012
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Quarter 1 Progress Quarter 2 Funding Quarter 2 Progress Project Lead Initial contact with AQA Purchase Quarter 3 Funding Quarter 4 Progress
Report received Report Appointed Edexcel/AQA Order Principals Meeting received Principals meeting Report
Quarter 3 Progress AQA Contract Chemistry CPD
Report received Event
OCR Contract
2013 received
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Philosophy & RS
Principals Meeting AoC Conference CPD Event Principals Meeting
Quarter 4 Funding
Received PE/Sport CPD Event Dance CPD Event
14. The Project was initially delayed at the bid stage because
the bids were targeted for General FE Colleges.
AoC were interested in the bid proposal and therefore
requested it was targeted to another fund, which was then
successful
Appointment of Project Lead –
the time scale in the process to
appoint delayed initial progress
1st Quarter funding was received
November 2011 after the January
entries were made
15. Under recruitment
Curriculum teams resistance to change
New A Level Reforms
Removal of January modules – reduced opportunity
for re-sits, saves money and effects discounts
16. Achievements to date:
Rebates of between 5-10% negotiated from 2 major Awarding
Bodies – based on increased spend
Increased CPD & Staff Development opportunities
Closer working relationships with consortium members to share
best practise
Dedicated Accounts Manager from the Awarding Bodies – which
improves Quality Assurance
Sponsorship
Exam Office support
17. To increase spending power by consolidating and
targeting area’s of spend
Joint working – improving procedures
Work closely with the consortium members and the
examination boards to provide high quality CPD/
subject experts
Provide links & events for sharing Good Practice
Grow opportunities for further ‘Shared Services’
IMPACT 2012-13 Grow the group once bid is over
