These exam centres have either taken external candidates in the past, or have indicated that they would consider it.
Please feel free to add or edit information - we rely on the home-ed community to keep this up to date. It's easiest to edit if you create a Wikia account first, but you could also just leave a comment below and we'll add any centres mentioned to the main list.
West Midlands
Hereford
Hereford Academy - a school and sixth form which takes private candidates, described as 'Excellent' by a home educator.
Coventry
Coventry - Tutors and Exams Private exam centre for IGCSE, GCSE and A Levels. Close to Birmingham airport and in the centre of Coventry. Set up specifically for external candidates, will do foreign language speaking assessments, access arrangements etc. http://www.tutorsandexams.uk/
One family's experience: I attended an Open Day at 'Tutors and Exams' in Coventry in January 2017. I was incredibly impressed by their 'Can Do' attitude towards access arrangements (given enough notice), breadth of subjects offered and the fact they offer all the exam boards and exams three times a year, as per each board's schedule. They are keen to work with the home ed community to help hook them up with the resources they need to do exams; with local tutors or distance learning organizations and to offer whatever exam any home edder wants to do! They offer mocks cheaply and easily. They try not to put more than 25 in a room so for popular exams eg Maths in the summer, they use lots of rooms of 25 students. HOWEVER, we haven't done any exams with them yet so can't yet vouch for them. But very promising.
Birmingham
Birmingham - EMST Tuition and Exam Centre - private exam centre. Does foreign language speaking assessments, on-screen Functional Skills testing, and A-level science practicals. Prices £200 for a 2-paper written-only IGCSE. Have not had any feedback from home educators yet.
Birmingham - Academic Enrichment Centre - Hall Green, B28. Private exam centre and tutorial college. AQA, CIE and Edexcel, plus Cambridge Pre-U. A-level science practicals and endorsements. May also do speaking tests.
Kimichi school, Acocks green, Birmingham 0121 679 5298. The head is happy to have external candidates register with them. They are a very small school so exam rooms will be super quiet and relaxed.
ME school of excellence and examination centre , Balsall Heath, Birmingham, 0121 446 4902. Private examination and tuiton centre. Registered for Pearson Edexcel, wjec, AQA and OCR examination boards. Caters for all examinations. They are a small school, thus it is very quiet and cosy.
Flexible Learning Centre, 210 Slade Road, Erdington, B23 7RJ, 0121 554 7918. Examination Officer : Laura Grigg
Al-Furqan Community College, Reddings Lane, Tyseley, B11 3EY, 0121 777 8666. Examinations Officer : Jill Hesketh
Birchfield Independent Girls School, 30 Beacon Hill, Aston, B6 6JU, 0121 327 7707. Examination Officer : Wajeeha Zeshan
Birmingham City Council's Elective Home Education Unit may also be able to provide details of local exam centres. 0121 464 7215. home.education@birmingham.gov.uk
Sandwell
West Bromwich, Sandwell Valley School jhall@sandwellcct.org.uk 0121 679 7522
Halesowen, B63 3NA - Halesowen College Email: info@halesowen.ac.uk 0121 602 7777
Oldbury, B68 0RG - Perryfields High School Email: admin@perrys.org.uk 0121 421 7979
Shropshire
Bishop's Castle - The Community College - Shropshire SY9 . CIE exam centre (may do other boards too). Contact Shona Glover, Examinations Officer on 01588 63825
One family's experience:
"We phoned the LA and, although they tried incredibly hard to refer us back to Edexcel, when it became clear that I was happy to stay on the phone all day insisting that Edexcel had referred us to the LA ,they gave a huge sigh and passed me onto Family Services, who were very sympathetic and passed me onto the Schools Effectiveness Unit, who were extremely sympathetic and phoned schools in the area, until they found an exam officer who would help. As it turns out, we cannot sit Edexcel exams at this school as they are not a registered centre – but we are sitting two AQA GCSEs there. Meantime, we discovered a local private school who are an IGCSE centre who are happy for us to sit the IGCSEs there. Both schools will be charging at cost – we have been given the ball park figure of no more than £60 per exam.
Worcestershire
Norton College, Worcester - tel 01905 359257 - "the person to speak to is Josh Williams. It's a small college nr to J7 of the M5. My daughter recently took an iGCSE there and they were really helpful and friendly. They are keen to help HE children take exams, offer November sittings as well - and even a mock should you want one - though this is the same charge as the exam, which was £75. " [No longer offering January sittings - 2017 onwards]
Worcester Sixth Form College - accepts external candidates for summer and January exams, including language orals. Contact Alison Finch, Exams Assistant on 01905 362624 or email exams@wsfc.ac.uk . They are registered with Edexcel and CIE and AQA and WJEC. Admin fee is £130 plus the cost of the entries. IGCSE’s cost £40.30 each.
East Midlands
Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire,Nottinghamshire and Rutland.
NorthStarWorldwide - Dronfield, Derbyshire - Exam centre and online course provider, run by former home-educators. Highly recommended by home-educating families. Also able to undertake Access Arrangement assessments for CiE at very reasonable rates. NorthStarWorldwide has offered CiE exams for a number of year and has recently added OCR and Edexcel to their list of exam boards.
Lincolnshire
The Priory Witham Academy, Lincoln - Tel: 01522 871 390 or Email: cbrown@prioryacademies.co.uk.
Lincoln Christ's Hospital School independent school accepting external candidates in 2016.
Lincoln Minster School - independent school, accepting externals as of 2016.
Nottinghamshire
Worksop College independent school - Tel: 01909 537100 or Email: ja@worksopcollege.notts.sch.uk
Mansfield, Nottinghamshire - Queen Elizabeth's Academy
Derbyshire
Ashbourne- Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School - says they accept external candidates only for those living within the catchment area, and for only the exact syllabuses they are doing themselves. May accept private candidates for practicals/ controlled assessments, with the agreement of a teacher at the school.
Derby College has a page of information for external candidates and an online contact form for you to ask about the exams you wish to take. Boards: AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC - but apparently only subjects their own students take. Cost: £80 per subject for GCSEs and £80 for unit for A-levels. Written and online exams only.
Northamptonshire
Bosworth Independent College offer Edexcel and AQA to private candidates. Exams officer is Alison Barnes.