Now that rinks are re-opening in England and Scotland, we are looking forward to being able to hold National Test sessions again soon. We anticipate there will be a delay of around 6 weeks between rinks opening and test sessions being held to allow skaters time to train and ice time to become available. Guidance on COVID restrictions specific to test sessions will be circulated soon.
We are extending the validity of all affected test applications to make up for the time off the ice. As a default, this will be an extension of 6 months. For any applications received during lockdown, skaters will have until the beginning of October 2021 to take their test, i.e. the standard 1 year validity from the point at which tests can resume. We will confirm how Welsh skaters will be affected once we know when rinks in Wales will be allowed to re-open.
If you have a test application pending at a rink which is now permanently closed or will not be opening for a significant time, please contact the Test & Membership team to arrange a transfer to another rink or to put your test on hold.
As a reminder, test applications should now be submitted online through the membership portal. We created some instructional videos for Test and Membership processes including how to submit a test application, which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLASZTijgWVdvwQXKogp2BIB10hHP_Th_5
Skaters with pending applications will be contacted by their local Test Organiser when a test session is available. Please ensure your membership is up-to-date to participate in test sessions.
Interim Test Levels
Over the period of lockdown, you may be aware that we introduced a set of new Interim Test Levels for Field Moves and Singles (Elements and Free) tests. These levels are now available through the online test application process on the membership portal. The current levels are still available for applications until 31st December 2020, at which point we will fully change over to the interim levels. Details of the changes to levels can be found in updated test manuals here: https://www.iceskating.org.uk/resource-centre/bdfbfc83-39a2-47db-a87d-34a75a82c932
If you are expecting to take a test soon, you should discuss with your coach which version of the test will be best for you. We expect that many skaters will prefer to take the ‘old’ version if this is what they have trained towards, but many skaters may prefer to take advantage of the reduced number of levels to quickly advance for competitions etc.
If you currently have a pending test application and you would like to switch to the Interim Levels, please email test.membership@iceskating.org.uk to request the change. This should be accompanied by written confirmation from your coach that they support the switch – an email from the address we recognise as theirs will suffice. You will then also need to make additional payment of the test fee balance via bank transfer. We will advise you of the amount required and details of where to transfer the balance. We will then change the application for you, and you will be able to see the change by logging onto your online profile and going to ‘National Test Applications’.
For new applications, you should simply select the appropriate level as part of your online application, whether this be the older numbered levels, or the Interim named levels. For Levels 1, 2 and 3, new versions of tests are available however as there is no ISU equivalent these levels have kept the same names. We would therefore ask that you specify at the point of application which version of these levels you would like to take. The easiest way to do this is in the ‘Dates Unavailable’ field on the online application. Please state ‘Interim Test’ if you would like to take the new version, and this information can then be passed on to the test organiser to ensure the correct test is scheduled.
Please direct any queries to test.membership@iceskating.org.uk and we will be happy to assist.