Student and parent support
List of schools and colleges
If you're a private candidate, you'll need to find a school or college willing to enter you for your subject.
A list of centres that may accept private candidates is available on the JCQ website:
Private Candidates - JCQ Joint Council for Qualifications
Finding a school or college
If you're unable to find one from the list, you may still want to contact other schools and colleges in your local area. Even if a school or college doesn't appear on the list, the exams officer may still be able to accept you.
You should find a school or college well in advance of the closing date for students to be entered for exams, to allow the exams officer time to process your entry and to avoid paying late fees. Please check the entries closing dates for all exams series.
Acceptance of private candidates by schools and colleges
It 's up to the school or college whether to accept private candidates. We can't ask a school or college to accept your entry. In most cases they will only accept you if they're entering their own students for the subject(s) you want to enter for.
It's your responsibility to find a school or college for all units/components.
For modular qualifications it may be possible to enter at more than one school or college for different units, although all entries must be made using the same Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI) number to make sure that all results are taken into account when you certificate.
If you have a physical disability or a learning disability and need any access arrangements (for example a scribe, extra time or modified papers) you need to discuss this with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator or the exams officer. Where the arrangements involve school resources it will be entirely the decision of the school or college whether to accept your entry. You'll need to provide appropriate evidence.