To think the Mother and head and bang on

[Metoodear]

Listing to bbc London radio today and I was shocked to here the story of a boy told by his mother and head teacher who was stabbed not part of any gang the boy was robbed on his way home from school then stabbed he was very poorly as you can imagine and lost half a lung as a result however had to miss his exams

The exam board have dispensation in these sort of cases but they refused it

He was predicted A* across the Board btw

The head is out raged and so is the mum I not usually moved by parents moaning about what there child’s entitled to but if this is not the sort of case the dispensation is for I am not sure what is.


Also I wonder if their a bit of prejudice in this do they assume the boy is in some sort of gang or suppose he is a black boy

Gang leaders hardly get predicted a* and I would imagine the head wouldn’t be going to bat if the lad was some sort of trouble maker

[SparklyMagpie]

I'm sorry but I have absolutely no idea what you're going on about ?

[SparklyMagpie]

Oh wait after reading again, I think i get what you're saying

[Tralala33]

Exam boards can use special consideration, but a pupil has to have done at least 25% of the qualification (might differ depending on the board). So if the young lad had sat one maths exam but missed the second then they could have awarded him a grade based on his first paper.

Unfortunately, as he likely missed all his exams they can't just award him a qualification. It's awful what has happened to him, but i suppose the exam boards have to draw a line somewhere.

[InsomniacAnonymous]

OP your post is very garbled and confusing. Perhaps you could link to the story?

[tattyheadsmum]

Your post is a little hard to read OP, but YANBU. That's awful. And, yes, I agree with you that the outcome would probably be very different if he came from a white, "naice", Home Counties background.

Are you close to this family? Anything people can do to support?

[Metoodear]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/inews.co.uk/news/education/authorities-deny-gcse-stabbing-stops-boy-sitting-exams/amp/

[Amanduh]

It’s awful and I can see their point but... He hasn’t taken any of the exam though. I can’t really see how they can just award them.
I don’t think the exam board are refusing to change their rules because he’s black

[Metoodear]

Not saying that but what the hell are mocks for clearly he’s done course work and the mocks can clearly show he’s Able even if they grades him a B it’s highly unlikely he would get a D grade seeing as he’s predicted a*


I wonder if this happens to a boy from Eaton would the exam Board been moved

[Metoodear]

If collages ,6th forms and universities all Accept student based on their mocks be it pending their final grade then surly a grade with a note attached out lining the circumstances you would be hard pushed to find anyone who would take issue

[Racecardriver]

But he didn't have grades to award. I don't understand why they eclectic him to be awarded grades without sitting c exams. Surely it would make more sense to ask that he shot the exams later?

[ProudThrilledHappy]

When I was at school (several centuries ago ) it was possible to do re-sits in either August or September, for kids who had medical issues or missed the first tests

Do they not still have a round of re-sits he could do instead of repeating the full year?

[PotteringAlong]

clearly he’s done course work

No, it doesn’t exist any more.

[Sirzy]

So they can’t (understandably) give the qualification without him having sat at least part of the exams but they have agreed to give him documentation to use for collage and university purposes. Sounds pretty fair to me.

[IAmMatty]

I love the PP saying 'a line has to be drawn somewhere'. Presumably it stops at being stabbed just before your exam then

If he has done prelims (that's what we call them in Scotland) then it seems obvious they could use those marks as a basis. Some policy that fails to take humans and all of their various problems into account will no doubt put a stop to that eminently logical solution though.

[Oratory1]

Can the school not accept him in to sixth form anyway. If he gets some decent A levels it won't matter what GCSe's that he hasn't got GCSE's.

[BlueSapp]

There are some exam boards who still use course work

[pigmcpigface]

I think this is an impossible situation - you can just give out grades based on mocks or predictions because the final bit of working towards the exam is really, really where a load of the actual absorption of knowledge happens. It wouldn't necessarily be doing this boy a favour simply to pass him at A* across the board and move him up - there is a gap between GCSE and A-level anyway, and it might actually make it harder for him to do well at A-levels, which are far more important than GCSEs. He has presumably missed a lot of school and a lot of learning as a result of being a victim of a terrible crime - repeating a year, in the circumstances, is not the worst of all worlds. In fact, it may be the most advantageous thing for him in the long term. Instead of asking for him to be graded now, I'd be looking at asking for a flexible arrangement with the school, whereby he could take his GCSEs next summer, but continue progressing with AS levels in some subjects, with a view to getting him the highest possible grades at A-level over 3 years instead of the usual 2.

[farangatang]

What a horrendous situation for the poor lad! It does seem though that the Exam Boards are awarding him honorary qualifications, which will no doubt include information from the school about his high levels of attainment.

These should get him into his chosen 6th Form (as PPs have said, acceptance is often on predicted grades, and in his case, his honorary award).

A shame for him not to have the satisfaction of 'earning' the grades though, but in comparison to potentially losing his life, I wonder how he feels about GCSEs?

[BookWitch]

A boy at our school was hit by a car on the way to his first A-level exam. He was in a coma for a few days, and had a severe concussion. He is now back at home and is improving slowly but there is no way he is going to be able to sit his exams.

His uni place has been deferred and he will resit Y13 next year while he recovers long term. Not what anyone planned, but could have been so much worse,

This may be an option for this boy.

[Sirzy]

I also wonder if given the severity and nature of his injuries if rushing things through would be best for his physical and mental health anyway? In a lot of ways time to recover and then think about GCSEs next year may be better for him

[Fink]

I taught a group of pupils who were all in the same road traffic accident and had to have several months off school, some of them were on life support and critically ill for a couple of weeks. They just had to resit the school year, it wasn't a big deal educationally speaking (obviously it was a big deal in a lot of other ways).

[Iamagreyhoundhearmeroar]

It's dreadful what happened to the poor kid; but have I got it right that he (unavoidably) didn't sit any exams at all?
And you think he should be awarded his predicted grades anyway??

[JudgeRulesNutterButter]

A fair number of children are unable to sit entire qualifications each year. The exam boards will do what they can but they can’t just make up qualifications, that’s not fair on anyone.

[crunchymint]

A white boy in my class had cancer and could not take exams. He was very bright and hard working. He had to repeat a year.

[viques]

But the exam board has offered to award him some sort of certificate which will explain the circumstances and worded sufficiently strongly to be accepted by sixth forms and colleges as evidence of his achievements and ability at school.

Since he hasn't actually taken any exams this seems a fair compromise to me.