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son had his mobile phone in GCSE biology

211 replies

Applecheeks · 05/06/2015 17:22

Three minutes before the end of my sons Biology paper today his mobile phone rang. It was in his pocket. He forgot he had it despite usual prompt at the beginning to hand any mobiles in. He didn't answer it, Invigilator took it off him. He was then interviewed after asked had he intended to cheat etc. My son is chaotic and disorganised. The school rang me to inform and explain that they would submit an incident report. My son is in pieces , angry at himself. I am hoping someone may have had experience. I have read the guidelines on the website of the exam board. This suggests he will receive a penalty of either a warning, lose of points on a unit or the paper, disqualification of this GCSE or ultimately of all he has taken under this board. That would be five GCSEs. I'm so angry with him but that's not helping so trying to stay calm. Clearly it's a breach of the rules but the website doesn't help me work out which penalty is likely as it is judged case by case

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 05/06/2015 18:18

He won't be able to retake in November, only maths and English resits are available in November.

LineRunner · 05/06/2015 18:12

Apple What a nightmare- I really feel for you. I've submitted incident reports as an invigilator (university though not GCSE) and have always stressed chaos where it's clearly that. Really sorry you are going through this stress Flowers

Applecheeks · 05/06/2015 18:05

Thank you mumsneedwine relieved to hear we should know quickly. He knows he's been a prat :0 (

OP posts:
mumsneedwine · 05/06/2015 17:58

It's not going to be good in afraid. The warning notices are everywhere and the invigilators will have read out a message that mentions handing phones in several times. It also mentions the penalties for not doing so. This is read at the start of every exam.
He will most definitely lose the marks for this exam,unless he is very lucky. Exam boards come down on this very hard.
I'm sorry to not be more positive. I've had to deal with students who have done this and they always feel a bit hard done by, but rules are there to make it fair for everyone.
Give him a hug and drink a large glass of red wine. He can retake in November if needed - I would doubt they would disqualify him completely
For a year (this does happen).keep fingers crossed and he may get a warning - you will be told very quickly usually.

Coconutty · 05/06/2015 17:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LIZS · 05/06/2015 17:48

There was another poster whose dd did similar a month or so back . Another more serious option would be yo disqualify him from all this years' papers Sad

Bellebella · 05/06/2015 17:47

I very much doubt they would take all the papers from the same board. It is very extreme for a first offence. Yes it is serious what has happened and obviously he does deserve a punishment. I would have thought they would take some points or disqualify him from this one paper.

Applecheeks · 05/06/2015 17:44

I agree he has no excuses and he knows that. Today he went in a few hours early to revise that's why he had his phone he doesn't normally take it. The school are well aware of his chaos they gave him a special award for it on leavers day!!! It's not a SEN though. I think disqualification from this test would be a fair punishment my fear is that it jepardises all the other results and therefore his future

OP posts:
Bellebella · 05/06/2015 17:35

Well he may get off lucky if it is his first offence but he would be extremely lucky. There really is no excuse for it, he was warned and when I was doing GCSEs there were posters everywhere about phones.

Hopefully he will lose some points but not have the whole GCSE stripped off him.

EvilTwins · 05/06/2015 17:32

You've pretty much covered it - the board will deal with it on a case by case basis, there isn't really a set penalty. Not that it's much comfort. Where I teach, there are notices all aroud the exam hall, on the doors, on the doors of the building and students are reminded they are not allowed to have phones on them at all. There is no way a student could realistically claim that they did not know the rules.

You say your DS is chaotic and disorganised. Is this something the school is aware of? Does he have a SEN? If so, this will have a bearing on the way it is dealt with. If not, then he may not have so much luck.

Hope he's ok.

Bunbaker · 05/06/2015 17:29

You have my sympathies. DD is disorganised as well and when she has exams I check before she leaves the house that her phone is off and in her school bag and not in her blazer pocket.

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