Who can apply
Anyone. We do not restrict private entries to a particular kind of candidate.
This page is for private candidates only. If your child is a pupil at Emmanuel, their examination entry fees are already covered by the GCSE levy and nothing on this page applies to you. See the fees page.
Most of the people who sit with us fall into one of three groups: young people educated at home, adults returning to a qualification they need, and pupils resitting English or mathematics.
You do not need any connection to the school, and you do not need to share our faith. You are welcome to sit your examinations here regardless.
Many centres have stopped taking private candidates altogether. We think that is a shame, and we would rather be one of the ones that still does.
Subjects and fees
We are registered with AQA and Eduqas (part of WJEC), and we can facilitate most examinations from either board, provided the specification permits private candidates.
The fees below apply to private candidates. Pupils at the school do not pay them.
| Subject | Board | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | AQA or Eduqas | £120 |
| English Literature | AQA or Eduqas | £120 |
| Mathematics | AQA | £120 |
| Business | AQA | £120 |
| Computer Science | AQA | £120 |
| Psychology | AQA | £120 |
| Biology | AQA | £150 |
| Chemistry | AQA | £150 |
| Physics | AQA | £150 |
| History | AQA | £150 |
| Combined Science: Trilogy | AQA | £220 |
| French | AQA | £220 |
Fees vary by subject because they cover the awarding body charge and the staffing needed to run the examination. A double-award science or a language with several components costs us considerably more to run than a single written paper.
If the subject you need is not listed, ask. We can facilitate most AQA and Eduqas examinations and will do our utmost to help.
Administration fee
There is an administration charge of £120 per candidate, payable on top of the individual examination fees. That covers registration, entry processing, your timetable, and the identification checks the awarding bodies require.
| English Language | £120 |
| Mathematics | £120 |
| Administration fee | £120 |
| Total | £360 |
The administration fee is charged once, not per subject.
What we cannot offer
We cannot enter candidates for subjects requiring non-examined assessment.
Where a specification includes coursework, a practical portfolio or any other work assessed outside the examination hall, we are unable to take a private entry. That work has to be supervised and authenticated over an extended period by a centre that has taught the course.
Spoken endorsements are an exception. We can conduct these, both the GCSE English Language spoken language endorsement and the speaking assessment in a modern foreign language. Many centres will not, which is why English Language and French both appear on the list above.
This is the point on which private candidates are most often caught out, so it is worth checking your chosen specification carefully before applying. If you are unsure, send us the specification code and we will tell you.
Access arrangements
We can arrange most access arrangements and reasonable adjustments — extra time, a separate room, a reader, and others.
Tell us early. Access arrangements have to be applied for and evidenced within the awarding bodies' own deadlines, and we cannot put them in place at short notice. There is space on the application form to tell us what you need.
Access arrangements carry an additional administration fee of £120, plus the cost of any testing or external agencies required.
Deadlines and late fees
We follow the awarding bodies' entry deadlines, but bring our own dates forward by a few days to allow for processing. Our published date is the one that applies to you.
| Late entry | Double the original fee |
| Very late entry | Triple the original fee |
| Amending an entry | 100% of the original fee, plus the fee for the new entry, plus £75 administration |
| Withdrawn entries | Not refunded |
| Candidate absent | Not refunded |
Entries are not processed until fees are paid in full. Late fees apply once the booking window closes, even for candidates who applied before the deadline but have not completed payment. If you are entering, pay early.
How to apply
| Step | What happens | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Get in touch | Email the examinations office with the subjects and series you need. We will confirm whether we can take them and what it will cost. |
| 2 | Complete the form | We send you the application form. It asks for your details, your examination choices, and anything we should know about access arrangements. |
| 3 | Send photographic ID | A passport is ideal. If you do not have one, a photograph countersigned by an appropriate person will do. We use this to identify you on the day. |
| 4 | Pay in full | Entries are submitted once payment has cleared. |
| 5 | Confirmation | We email you a confirmed list of your entries and the examinations taking place at the centre. |
If you have sat formal examinations in the UK before, you will have a UCI — a unique candidate identifier. Bring it if you can find it; it helps us link your entries correctly.
On the day
You are responsible for knowing your own examination timetable. We will send you a confirmed list, but the timetable is yours to keep.
Candidates who do not appear are marked absent, and fees are not refunded — including where a candidate arrives too late to be admitted.
All candidates must follow JCQ regulations and the school's code of conduct while on site. We have the right to withdraw a candidate in breach of those regulations, and fees would not be refunded.
None of that is meant to sound forbidding. In practice, candidates arrive, sit their papers in a quiet room, and go home.
Ask us
Tell us which subjects and which series you are aiming for, and whether you need any access arrangements. If you are not sure whether your specification allows private candidates, send us the code and we will check for you.
