Every grade, report and certificate Smartious issues must tell the truth about what a student has learned and achieved. Universities, exam boards, employers and families rely on our records, and so do our students. This policy sets out the standards of honesty we expect from students, parents and staff, and how we protect the integrity of every record we keep.
No student record will be changed in any way, for any reason, in return for any favour. This covers marks, grades, predicted grades, attendance, reports, transcripts, references, certificates and examination entries. It applies whatever is offered or asked: money, gifts, discounts, extra fees, personal favours, friendship, family connections, promises, pressure or threats, and whoever offers it, whether a parent, a student, a member of staff or anyone else. There are no exceptions, and no member of staff, including the Principal, has the authority to make one.
Offering, promising or giving anything to influence a record is a serious breach of this policy, whether or not the offer is accepted. Staff must refuse any such offer, record it, and report it to the Principal and to Quality Assurance on the same day. A member of staff who accepts an offer, or changes a record improperly, will be dismissed. A family or student who makes an offer may have their enrolment ended, and the matter may be reported to the relevant examination board or authority.
Records stay as they were issued. If a student or parent believes a record contains a genuine clerical error, such as a mark entered against the wrong student, they may raise it in writing with Quality Assurance. If evidence proves the error, the original entry is kept exactly as it was, and the corrected entry is added beside it, dated, with the reason and the names of the people who approved it. The original is never deleted or overwritten. A correction never changes a teacher’s academic judgement; disagreement with a mark is handled through the appeals process below.
A student who disagrees with a mark may appeal within 14 days of receiving it, asking for the work to be reviewed by a second qualified teacher who did not mark it. The reviewer’s decision and reasons are recorded. If the review changes the mark, the original mark is kept and the corrected mark is added beside it. For external examinations, appeals follow the rules of the examination board (Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel, IB or College Board), and Smartious will support the family through that process.
Students submit their own work. That means no copying from another student or a source without acknowledging it, no buying or commissioning work, no sharing answers during assessments, no impersonation in online lessons or exams, and no use of unauthorised materials or tools, including AI tools where they are not allowed (see our AI Use Policy). Students acknowledge every source they use, in the way their teacher shows them.
Parents support honest work at home. Helping a child understand a topic is welcome; completing assessed work for them is not. During online assessments, parents make sure the student works alone and without unauthorised help or materials, and never ask a teacher to change, inflate or predict a grade beyond the evidence.
Teachers mark fairly against the published mark scheme and predict grades only on evidence. Staff never share assessment content in advance, never complete work for a student, and never change a record outside the correction process above. Any member of staff who is asked to do so must report it.
Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel, IB and College Board each have rules on malpractice. Smartious follows them in full and reports suspected malpractice in external examinations to the board concerned, as the boards require. A finding of malpractice by a board can lead to the loss of a grade or of a whole qualification.
Suspected misconduct is investigated by a member of staff who is not the student’s teacher. The student and parent are told what is suspected and are given the chance to respond before any decision is made. Outcomes depend on the seriousness of the case and range from redoing the work under supervision, to a mark of zero for the piece of work, to suspension or ending enrolment. Every decision and its reasons are recorded.
Anyone who is offered a favour, sees a record changed improperly, or suspects misconduct should tell the Principal or Quality Assurance at once by email at hello@smartioushomeschool.com or by phone on +254 745 021 212. Reports can be made in confidence, and no one will be treated unfairly for raising a concern in good faith.
This policy is reviewed at least once every 12 months, and whenever examination board rules change.