Case study Awards 2010: Exam Offi cers of the Year
No Diploma consortium can be truly eff ective without a good examination offi cer. In our fi nal visit to the winners and nominees at the Delivering Diplomas Awards, we hear from the Exam Offi cers of the Year
organise the appropriate conditions for exams to take place and analyse the results when they are published – among many other tasks. T e arrival of the Diploma has complicated
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matters even further. Virtually overnight, the role has expanded to liaising with other centres, and dealing with all the various component parts of the new qualifi cation that need to be examined and assessed, and the myriad of awarding bodies that accredit them. Crucially, the exam offi cer needs to
understand the Diploma and exactly how it works. Naielah Sayed is not just the examinations
offi cer in her school, but she also has the responsibility of leadership of a consortium, with a proactive role in planning and collaborating with colleagues, as well as preparing students for Diploma aggregation. Ms Sayed, who work at Eastlea School in
Newham, east London, and was named Exam Offi cer of the Year in this year’s Delivering Diplomas Awards, is all but indispensable in her school. She has compiled a Diploma manual
for colleagues which is full of explanatory notes, and is tagged and sectioned for every aspect of the qualifi cation, including a “key dates” spreadsheet with dates, actions and responsibilities. Ms Sayed has also put together a “Diploma
Idiot’s Guide” to give colleagues in other centres a clear perspective of the steps they need to take when setting up Diploma structures of their own.
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Winning smile: Naielah Sayed heads to the stage to pick up her exam offi cer award Colleagues say she has time for everyone
and always explains everything clearly. One said: “Newham is very lucky to have an exam offi cer with such dedication and expertise.” She has worked tirelessly to identify areas
of concern in developing consortium policy, and played an active role in dealing with basic issues, such as creating spreadsheet templates to record student results. Ms Sayed has promoted best practice in
Diploma exams management by creating Learner Study Plans for lines of learning, and has circulated these to the relevant parties, as well as standard documents for use with the qualifi cations. To ensure that students have a fair and
successful aggregation for the Diploma, she has regular meetings with staff who teach the lines of learning to fi nd out how they
are progressing with units, and reviews entry specifi cation and dates. Joyce Pascal, a teacher from Little Ilford
School in east London, said: “When the Diploma came into place it was like a mountain of work on top of all the other work we had to do. “Ms Sayed has made that mountain into a
molehill. She is our fi rst port of call when we have a Diploma query. We bombard her with questions and she always has the answers. “If on the rare occasion she does not, then
you can be sure that she will fi nd out and get back to you. We call her the ‘Diploma Hotline’.” One fellow exam offi cer said she might have
resigned her post early on if it had not been for Ms Sayed’s help and support. Kelly Collins, from Brampton Manor
Delivering Diplomas • Volume 2 No 2 Autumn 2010
CHOOL EXAMINATION offi cers have a diffi cult role. T ey have to ensure each candidate is entered for the required number of papers,
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