How long do schools keep unclaimed exam certificates for?

poet123

I think it is approx £40 per subject.

Poppy9

Strangely I reminded DD to collect hers when she came home for Xmas as the school had written to her in October to say they were available for collection and they only kept for 2 years.

DD forgot till I reminded her again 2 weeks ago. She emailed school and gave permission for her friends who is resitting Y13 to collect and she dropped them in. At least with A levels it's only 3 subjects. Nightmare if you had to pay per subject for GCSEs unless you only pay by exam board.

msb5262

I had to get a replacement certificate recently - I think it cost £39 per exam board so I only had to pay once for all my O level subjects as they were all with the same board. HTH.

noelphobic

Bennifred wrote: »

So he knew he was supposed to collect them then......

It is annoying that he didn't, I'm sure, and he's far from alone, but he'll probably now have to pay for replacements from the exam boards. Universities have their procedures, too.

If I'm honest, I don't think either of us thought about it that much. When he did his GCSE and AS exams they were given out at prize giving ceremonies. Even if they hadn't have been he was still at school so no doubt he'd have asked for them or been reminded to (by me or the school).


When he got his A Level results he started preparing to go away to uni. Not sure when the actual certificates come out but he was probably away at uni by then (away from home). I did mention it to him once or twice and wish now that I'd attempted to collect them myself. However, he was of an age where I was trying not to be a helicopter parent, if you know what I mean!


I've done a bit more research since I first posted on here and it seems schools have to hold on to them for a year. I think his school must have held onto them for longer than that, as one of his friends managed to get his a year or two ago. Presumably his school holds them for 5 or 6 years and we've missed the boat. Ah well, we live and learn!

Bennifred

I would also recommend photocopying certificates - these can then be handed over to university admin rather than entrusting your originals to them (they may still need to clap eyes on the originals at some point depending on their regulations). Saves time and worry.

noelphobic

msb5262 wrote: »

I had to get a replacement certificate recently - I think it cost £39 per exam board so I only had to pay once for all my O level subjects as they were all with the same board. HTH.

How long did yours take to come? The different boards quote anything from 15 to 28 days. His A Levels were with 2 boards. Not sure if he would also need AS certificates as the AS becomes part of the A level qualification anyway when the 2nd year is completed. He did do one subject just at AS level though.

noelphobic

Bennifred wrote: »

I would also recommend photocopying certificates - these can then be handed over to university admin rather than entrusting your originals to them (they may still need to clap eyes on the originals at some point depending on their regulations). Saves time and worry.

Good idea. I did also suggest that he scanned them.

noelphobic

Poppy9 wrote: »

Strangely I reminded DD to collect hers when she came home for Xmas as the school had written to her in October to say they were available for collection and they only kept for 2 years.

DD forgot till I reminded her again 2 weeks ago. She emailed school and gave permission for her friends who is resitting Y13 to collect and she dropped them in. At least with A levels it's only 3 subjects. Nightmare if you had to pay per subject for GCSEs unless you only pay by exam board.

I wish his school had written to him! You do only pay per board as long as all the exams were taken at the same time, luckily. Also, it seems to be quite common to not actually replace the certificate itself, unless it's been stolen, damaged or destroyed in a fire or flood (and they do want proof of any of those!) Instead they provide a certificate of results which is hopefully just as good. I'm not sure that's much better than the exam results slip which he has anyway. They don't seem to allow for the fact that the certificate may never have been collected and therefore presumably destroyed.


Waiting to see what the uni says on Wednesday. Even if they're happy with the proof he has so far it might be worth him paying the boards anyway just in case he needs them in the future.

noelphobic

Willowx wrote: »

What actually happens I don't know but we were told (a few years before your son would have done his exams) that we had a year to collect them or they'd be returned to the exam board.

I don't remember being told this, but it's possible. However, it would seem to be almost as much trouble to return them to the board as it would to send them to the student. I doubt the exam board would hold on to them anyway.

Sensible_Jess

I've recently had to do this as I'm applying for jobs... The exam boards have merged into three main ones now - Edexcel, OCR and AQA. They all have instructions on how to get proof of qualification on their websites. And Ofqual also has a breakdown of the boards in this link:

http://ofqual.gov.uk/help-and-advice/getting-a-replacement-certificate/

They won't supply replacement certificates unless you have a police crime reference. What they will do is issue a 'statement of results' which they can send to you or directly to the employer. Personally, you may as well get it sent to you as then you'll have it for future reference.

A word of caution though- AQA said they couldn't find a record of one of my certificates -maths GCSE - which would have been disastrous as along with English that's what employers most ask for proof of. I was very lucky in that my parents eventually found the originals but I'm still angry as what would have happened if they hadn't??? It could have cost me a job........