Our GCSE tutors teach online and in person across AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Cambridge, and lessons can follow the specification your child will be entered for. Tutoring covers the teaching. The entry itself still goes through your exam centre.
Yes, a home-educated child can take GCSEs and International GCSEs. They sit them as a private candidate, which means taking the exams at an approved exam centre without being enrolled there as a student. Your child doesn't need to join a school, but they do need a centre that agrees to enter them, because the exam boards don't accept entries from families directly.
For summer 2027, the exam boards' deadline for GCSE entries is 21 February 2027. The centres we checked that publish a deadline set it earlier, in early February, and some parts of the process need sorting out well before then. The dates, fees and rules below were checked on 9 October 2026.
JCQ, the body that coordinates the main exam boards, describes a private candidate as someone who takes exams at an approved school or college without being enrolled there. Home-schooled students are the first group it lists.
The centre handles the administration. It makes the entry with the exam board, checks your child's identity, issues a statement of entry listing every paper, and tells you the date and time of each exam. As JCQ's regulations put it, "Awarding bodies do not accept entries directly from private candidates."
Arranging all of that is your job, though. The same regulations make a private candidate "responsible for their own entry". Ofqual's guidance for students also points out that "Not all schools and colleges accept entries for private candidates", and JCQ adds that each centre sets its own entry fees and internal deadlines. In practice, you choose the qualifications, find a centre, pay, and check every detail on the statement of entry when it arrives.
Two smaller points catch families out. Your child will need original photo ID on exam days. JCQ's examples are a passport or a photographic driving licence, so check early that a passport is in date and ask the centre what else it accepts. And if your child is still on a school roll, speak to the school first, because pupils who are taught there are normally entered as its own candidates.
GCSEs and International GCSEs look alike, and many families take a mix. They aren't the same, though. Ofqual, the exams regulator in England, says plainly that "International GCSEs and GCSEs in England are different qualifications." GCSEs follow content set by the government and are regulated by Ofqual. International GCSEs are designed by the boards that offer them, which decide the content and how it's assessed. In England, the two you're most likely to meet are Pearson Edexcel International GCSEs and Cambridge IGCSEs from Cambridge International. Neither is regulated by Ofqual. Ofqual said in 2019 that it expected to stop regulating International GCSEs by 1 April 2020, and Pearson's specifications state that its International GCSEs are not regulated by any UK regulator.
Neither type is easier as a rule. For a private candidate, the differences that matter are practical ones.
Families usually decide subject by subject. Science is a good example of why. Pearson's International GCSE Biology is assessed by two written papers, and its specification states that "Experimental skills are assessed through written examinations." Cambridge IGCSE sciences offer either a practical test or a written alternative to practical paper, and the centre decides which one your child can sit. A GCSE science, by contrast, needs a centre that can give your child access to the required practical activities, as the next section explains.
Timing matters too. If your child is mixing boards, a centre has to be able to host every exam, and in 2026 Cambridge's summer exams started earlier than the GCSE timetable. Our guide to the differences between IGCSEs and GCSEs covers the wider comparison.
Start with the specification, not just the subject. Every qualification has a specification code, such as AQA 8700 for GCSE English Language or Pearson 4MA1 for International GCSE Maths A, and the centre enters your child for that exact code. Content, paper structure and question styles differ between boards, so teaching should follow the same specification from the start.
Then check that every part of the qualification can be done as a private candidate. Most subjects are assessed only by written exams. These are the ones to settle before you start teaching.
Maths, the sciences and modern languages are tiered at GCSE, Foundation or Higher. Pearson's International GCSE Maths A is tiered too, though its International GCSE Biology isn't. The tier is chosen when the entry is made, which is another reason to keep specification and teaching closely matched. There's also no need to take every subject in one summer. Some families spread entries across two or three years, which spreads the cost and the workload.
JCQ runs the official search for centres that take private candidates. You enter a postcode and filter by qualification type, exam board and subject. The results list centres in order of distance, with their qualification types, exam boards and, for most, a phone number. Fees aren't shown. When we checked, the page said 190 centres had confirmed they would accept private candidates, and that the list is "updated once a year, in December/January". JCQ also warns that "some centres listed may no longer accept private candidates", while others that do may not appear.
Two details help when you search. OCR appears in the exam board filter as Cambridge OCR, which is the GCSE board and not Cambridge International. Cambridge International isn't in that filter, but the subject list includes options such as "Cambridge Igcse" and "Pearson Edexcel Igcse". Centres label subjects in different ways, so try more than one option and confirm the exact syllabus codes with each centre.
Look beyond the list as well. Government guidance lists help with finding exam centres that accept external candidates as one kind of extra support some councils offer, so ask your council's elective home education team. Local schools, colleges and independent schools sometimes take private candidates without appearing in the search, and home education groups in your area often know which centres families have used.
Contact more than one centre and get the answers in writing before you pay. These are the questions worth asking.
These are the official dates for the June 2027 series. Most come from JCQ's key dates for GCSE, and the International GCSE dates come from Pearson.
Cambridge International hadn't published its June 2027 UK key dates when we checked. For June 2026, its UK deadline for entries and for access arrangement requests was also 21 February. Its exams started on 23 April, and Cambridge IGCSE results came out on 18 August.
The 21 February date is when centres must send entries to the boards. It isn't the date to start looking. Two of the London centres we checked effectively close standard entries in early February 2027. One closes at 4pm on 1 February, and the other charges a late fee after 8 February. The third doesn't publish a deadline on its fees page, so ask. Late entries may be accepted, but they cost more and depend on space. Pearson doubles its own fee for late GCSE entries from 22 February 2027 and trebles it from 22 April. Centres set their own late prices too. At one centre, a single GCSE goes from £290 to £425.
Keep 23 June 2027 free. JCQ expects candidates to be available on the contingency day if an exam has to move. And if your child is ill or something unforeseen happens on an exam day, contact the centre's exams officer straight away about special consideration.
The price has two parts. The exam board charges the centre an entry fee for each subject, and the centre adds its own charge for running the exams. Pearson's 2026/27 fees to UK centres, for example, are £56.65 for GCSE Maths, £58.10 for GCSE English Language and £69.05 for most International GCSEs. The price a family pays is usually several times that.
These were the published summer 2027 prices at three London centres on 9 October 2026. They're examples of how prices are set, not recommendations, so check current terms with any centre you use.
At those prices, a core set of English Language, English Literature, maths, Combined Science and one other subject would cost roughly £1,250 to £1,700. That's six GCSE grades, because Combined Science counts as two. The total is before travel and extras such as practical sessions, which one centre prices at £350 per subject, or the spoken language endorsement.
Ask your council too. Government guidance says exam costs are the parents' responsibility when a child is home educated, but a council may have a policy of helping with them.
Private candidates can have access arrangements, such as extra time, a reader, a scribe, a word processor or supervised rest breaks, where the evidence supports them. JCQ sets the rules in its access arrangements guidance, and the exam centre runs the process.
The centre's special educational needs coordinator, or SENCo, has to build a picture of your child's needs and normal way of working. For a home-educated student, that means showing how your child normally works at home.
Where your child needs an assessment, for example for a learning difficulty, it's carried out by the centre's assessor. JCQ says the assessor "should be employed or contracted by the centre". An assessor you find yourself can only assess your child after contacting the SENCo, establishing a working relationship with the centre and being approved by the head of centre. The results go on JCQ's Form 8, and JCQ says educational psychologists' reports and other reports "are not acceptable for processing and inspection purposes" in its place. So talk to the centre before paying for any private assessment.
It works differently if your child has an EHC plan, or a disability confirmed by a specialist such as CAMHS or a medical consultant. For some arrangements, the centre can use that evidence instead of a Form 8 assessment, alongside its own picture of how your child normally works. Even so, an EHC plan or a diagnosis doesn't guarantee a particular arrangement. Each one must be based on your child's individual needs and the effect those needs have on sitting exams.
Timing is the part that goes wrong most easily. JCQ says requirements "must be notified at the point of application/enrolment", and private candidates have to meet the centre's internal deadlines. For GCSEs, the exam boards' final deadline for processing applications for June 2027 is 21 March 2027, and modified papers must be ordered by 31 January 2027. Cambridge International sets its own, earlier dates. For June 2026 they were 21 January for modified papers and 21 February for access arrangements. Centre deadlines can be far earlier still. One London centre's deadline for access arrangements for its June 2027 language exams was 1 September 2026.
Ask about charges as well. JCQ's regulations say that where a centre has a duty to make a reasonable adjustment, it "must not charge a disabled candidate any additional fee in relation to the adjustment or aid". The rule covers the adjustment itself. JCQ doesn't say whether a centre can charge for an assessment, so if a centre lists access arrangement fees, ask what each one is for before you commit. Our guide to getting extra time in exams explains how the process works in schools. For a private candidate, the exam centre's SENCo and assessor take the school's place.
A GCSE taken as a private candidate is the same qualification as one taken at school, marked and graded in the same way. Colleges, sixth forms and apprenticeship providers look at the subjects and grades. Check the entry requirements for the courses your child is interested in, including English and maths grades and any subject-specific requirements. If you're unsure what a grade means, our guide to GCSE grades explains the 9 to 1 scale.
International GCSEs are treated a little differently in one place. Under the government's condition of funding, students aged 16 to 18 on a funded post-16 course who don't hold grade 4 in English or maths must keep studying them. That includes students who were home educated. The Department for Education's guidance says "International GCSEs do not meet the CoF" for that purpose. It adds that they "continue to count as equivalent to GCSEs for the purposes of recognising prior attainment". In plain terms, an International GCSE at grade 4 or above that your child holds before starting a post-16 course counts, even if they were already 16 when they sat it. Studying for one at a sixth form or college as the English or maths resit doesn't.
Some Cambridge IGCSEs, including First Language English, are graded A* to G rather than 9 to 1, so if your child takes one, ask the college how it treats the letter grade. Individual sixth forms and colleges set their own requirements beyond that, so ask any provider your child is considering whether it accepts International GCSEs for the subjects that matter.
Teach from the specification and the board's own materials. Each board publishes its specification and sample assessment materials, and past papers and mark schemes, where available, show how marks are awarded. If you're planning the wider curriculum around qualifications, our article on choosing a homeschool curriculum compares the main approaches and how they fit each key stage.
Put the hands-on parts in the diary early. Practical sessions, fieldwork, the speaking test and the spoken language endorsement all depend on the centre's arrangements, and they usually take place before the written exams.
A full practice exam under timed conditions in the spring shows what your child can do on paper and how they handle the clock. It's especially useful for a child who hasn't sat formal exams before, because the exam hall itself can be the unfamiliar part.
Finally, plan the days themselves. Check the statement of entry against the subjects, tiers and specification codes you asked for, and raise any error with the centre at once. Plan travel to the centre, keep the photo ID somewhere obvious, and know who to call if something goes wrong. Results come through the centre on results day.
If your child is aiming for summer 2027, three jobs matter most over the next few weeks. Choose the qualification and specification for each subject, check any non-exam parts, and start contacting centres. Raise access needs in your first conversation with a centre. The 21 February deadline sounds a long way off, but centre cut-offs and access arrangement dates arrive sooner.
If you're working out how to cover the teaching, whether that's one or two subjects or a structured homeschooling programme, start a conversation about your child's exam subjects. We'll talk through where tutoring could help and what a sensible plan for the next few terms might look like.
Sign up for the latest insights and updates.
