Support for schools in the Gulf and Middle East

Yes, schools should continue to make entries as usual.

Please contact us at [email protected] and we will do what we can to support you. 

You can withdraw entries via Centre Services until 21 April (automatically credited) if the original entries were made through Centre Services. If your entries were made by EDI, you must continue to use EDI for any withdrawals.

There is no charge for withdrawals at any point. However, after 21 April, although you may still withdraw entries, entry fees are not credited or refunded automatically.

• Schools can send an email to [email protected] making the request for an exceptional credit.
• Within the email the centre should include; centre number, detail of request e.g. entry amendment or withdrawal, subject(s), candidate number(s), reason for request with evidence if available. Please note that any withdrawal amendments must be made before the request.

If a student would like to transfer to a different OxfordAQA centre, the original centre needs to make sure the student’s entry is withdrawn. The new centre should then make the entries on behalf of the student. The new centre must contact [email protected] with their centre number, student details, a brief explanation, and request the late fees to be cancelled. The late fees will be returned as a credit note and will be processed.  

Please note, we are not able to transfer students to a different centre for you. 

Our hope is that we can continue with exams as planned, and we will make a decision in early April. We will communicate this to OxfordAQA schools and update this page in due course. 

We appreciate that students have faced severe disruption during this difficult time. We will ask schools in affected countries to apply for special considerations for all students and will provide further guidance on this in due course.

No, there are no exams series in the Autumn 2026 for AS or A-level exams. The exam series that are available are in November 2026 for International GCSE and January 27 for International AS and A-level. These are the normal exam series for OxfordAQA. 

Students who defer from May/June 2026, would need to enter either the November 2026, January 2027 or May/June 2027 exam series. 

OxfordAQA have cancelled exams for the May/June 2026 series in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar in consultation with other international awarding bodies and the relevant authorities. OxfordAQA continues to monitor developments closely across the region and will keep centres informed. 

At present, exams in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman and Iraq are still planned.  

Student and staff safety and welfare is the primary consideration for all decisions being taken.  

OxfordAQA is also committed to ensuring that students who wish to certify are able to receive a valid result and progress as planned.  

Where exams cannot safely or fairly take place, alternative routes are put in place to protect learner outcomes, minimise disruption, and avoid disadvantaging students. The approach balances duty of care with maintaining access to results, ensuring students can progress wherever possible. 

Exam materials will begin to dispatch from Tuesday 31 March and will be delivered as soon as possible. Your Exams Officer will receive the normal shipping update emails and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

In most cases we expect schools to submit a completed set of past papers covering every unit that a student is entered for. These past papers should be sat under exam confusions – either within school or remotely.  

If a completed set of past papers are not available or appropriate, we will also accept the following evidence. Where possible, the evidence submitted should cover a broad range of the Assessment Objectives in the specification. 

• NEA work (completed or partially completed) 
• Classwork completed during the course 
• Any other evidence that reflects the student’s ability for the unit/qualification 
• Speaking tests (OxfordAQA International GCSE ESL, GCSE French, and GCSE Spanish) may be included and recordings in the normal format should be provided. These can be done in a virtual environment when needed. Please see the OxfordAQA Speaking test instruction document for further information. 
• Live speaking tests can be used and can be downloaded from Centre Services 

Please note that aside from speaking tests, live exam papers from May/June 26 cannot be used as evidence and will not be accepted. 

Evidence submissions may be tailored at individual candidate level, as not all students will have completed the same assessments. Centres must ensure that the evidence submitted is appropriate, representative and authenticated. 

In countries where exams have been cancelled, you do not need to submit NEA in the normal way. Please submit evidence of student performance as laid out in the guidance document. This also applies for International EPQ 9695. If possible, the student’s EPQ project work should be submitted. This can be either completed or partially completed. The examiner will make a holistic judgement on the work that has been submitted for EPQ.

If schools are open and able to conduct speaking tests for International GCSE English as a Second Language, French or Spanish from Friday 27 March then they may. We have extended the speaking test window in affected countries by 10 calendar days to ensure schools have the flexibility to complete their speaking assessments when it is safe and practical to do so. Due to the conflict and related airspace restrictions, we have not yet dispatched speaking test materials. If schools want to start conducting speaking tests now then they can download the Teacher’s Booklet which contains everything needed to contact the speaking test. Further guidance has been issued directly to schools. 

Yes, we will be arranging webinars and guidance materials to support schools through this process. We will add further information to this page as it becomes available. We will also continue to send any further support and guidance directly to our OxfordAQA schools.

Please contact us at [email protected]. Our Customer Services team are here and ready to help Monday to Friday 8:00am-5:00pm UK time.

For schools sitting AQA exams (Ofqual regulated UK domestic specifications), AQA will be in touch separately with the guidance you need to follow. Please contact AQA at [email protected] if you have any questions on this.

We are communicating directly with Exams Officers and Heads of Centres at all our OxfordAQA schools. If you are not receiving these communications and you should be please contact us at [email protected].