Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Cheating in end of year exams

31 replies

Notrightbutwhattodo · 24/05/2018 19:17

DS is currently doing end of year 8 tests. He came home today and told me most of his form has cheated on the subject they did today. Apparently they got hold of a cheat sheet from other dc who had already done the test. There was only ds and a few others who didn't cheat. Consequently the bulk of the class have a aced the test but ds and co have not! He is very annoyed, as am I, but doesn't want to snitch. These marks will be used to set targets and decide which set the dc will be in next year. WWYD?

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Kimlek · 12/06/2018 22:47

If these cheats are put in a higher set than their abilities they’ll either have to work their socks off or be moved into the appropriate set. I’d be surprised if the subject teachers set on these results alone especially if these results are an anomaly for these students. At least your son will be set appropriately.

Clavinova · 12/06/2018 12:45

It is going to be pretty obvious to the students that it is one of the small group of non-cheats that grassed

Probably not - there will be a whole form group (or more) of pupils who sat the test first without the cheat sheet but know about it now. TBH this happens quite a lot in end of topic tests - at least verbally (child in form A asks his friend in form B what topics came up in the test). At least DS1's school treat end of year exams seriously from Year 7 - any groups of pupils not sitting end of year exams at the same time (e.g. because they were attending a sports event) are given a different exam paper.

Which subject is it? Are you certain that the school actually set by ability for it? How many form groups in the year - perhaps most pupils in the year group didn't receive the cheat sheet? If your ds didn't cheat his targets will be right for him.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 12/06/2018 08:59

Carycach100 something similar happened at DC1s grammar - a small group (of friends) of the Yr 12s seem to have got hold of the previous year's exam paper. Why would schools be so obtuse as to imagine that cheating won't happen if they do this?

FWIW, DC1 has always reckoned there's been lots of cheating going on at his school, even in GCSEs. We've challenged him as to why he hasn't said reported it but he reckons he's not a 'grass'.

Carycach100 · 12/06/2018 00:02

It is going to be pretty obvious to the students that it is one of the small group of non-cheats that grassed. I hope your DS does not bear the brunt!

Carycach100 · 12/06/2018 00:01

AT my DCs school they used to reuse end of year tests but they found that older siblings were keeping them to pass on to younger siblings.

Original poster
Notrightbutwhattodo · 11/06/2018 20:28

Well they've been back at school over a week now and it seems they are ignoring the cheating. I am incredibly proud of Ds for not cheating but really annoyed that nothing has been done. Not really sure what to do next.

OP posts:
CoffeeAndCode · 30/05/2018 12:03

What would I do?

Ha, simple. I'd smile at my child and tell him well done.

I'd tell him that while grades are important, there are two things that are more important.
The first is what you actually learned. The second is how you learned.

Ask him what the cheats would have learned and how they learned. Ask him how he thinks that will help them in the future when cheating isn't an option. Suggest to him that while his grade was less than the others, what he learned is more valuable.

Then tell him that in the future he will have other chances to take shortcuts. Other opportunities to circumvent hard work with a quick 'win' will present themselves and the morality of it will be less clear to him than on this occasion. He will have to make up his own mind whether or not take the shortcut.

I'd say that my advice to him would always be to take the choice that leads to learning and take the choice that feels right.

And I'd say that I'm very f*ing proud of him.

lljkk · 28/05/2018 04:07

On plus side, at least they care that much about their marks. Most kids wouldn't.

Kimlek · 28/05/2018 01:24

Signs?? Scenes!!

Kimlek · 28/05/2018 01:23

Ahh well done. Good to hear she said it’d be taken seriously. Maybe your son not hearing about it is a good thing too. Looking into it behind the signs?

Original poster
Notrightbutwhattodo · 25/05/2018 20:08

Sorry auto corrected. I hope it is dealt with.

OP posts:
Original poster
Notrightbutwhattodo · 25/05/2018 20:07

Spoke to a lovely lady in the office whowas very reassuring and said that it would be taken seriously and felt it appropriate to be passed onto head of year. DS said nothing has been said today. Just hope of his dealt with and not brushed under the carpet.

OP posts:
Original poster
Notrightbutwhattodo · 25/05/2018 07:32

OK thanks.

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 25/05/2018 07:24

Head of the relevant subject would be better.

Original poster
Notrightbutwhattodo · 25/05/2018 07:20

Was going to ask the office to pass it on to head of year 8.

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 25/05/2018 07:16

Don’t email the head, they will not want to investigate, they will ping it to the subject department. Or rather their PA will, they won’t even read it.

Original poster
Notrightbutwhattodo · 25/05/2018 07:07

It's really tricky as ds doesn't want to be implicated at all understandably and teachers would probably want to talk to him. A friend mum asked for her dss name to be kept out of something last year and he was called out of the class for a chat so it was obvious.

OP posts:
Kimlek · 25/05/2018 06:40

I’d email the head directly as I don’t think it’s an office staff responsibility. The head can then investigate.

Kimlek · 25/05/2018 06:37

Why anonymous? I’d just say there’s rumours and you want them to be aware in case there’s any truth. You don’t need to say where the rumours have come from.

ADescentofWoodpeckers · 24/05/2018 20:49

£1 per cheat sheet? Top marks for entrepreneurial spirit Grin

Original poster
Notrightbutwhattodo · 24/05/2018 20:14

I'll probably have to get the office to pass it on to head of that dept.

OP posts:
Original poster
Notrightbutwhattodo · 24/05/2018 20:12

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll so an anonymous phone call tomorrow as a concerned parent. Really don't want to implicate DS but I do want school to be aware. Don't know what they'll do about it.

OP posts:
frasier · 24/05/2018 20:10

The teachers should know that half the class were not going to ace that test. Even one or two pupils going from d or c to an a will raise suspicions.

But snitch (to head) anyway. Because some teachers might not do anything about it.

noblegiraffe · 24/05/2018 20:07

Drop the class teacher an email just so you know that they know what’s happened and can investigate.

Thinking about it, lots of student teachers taking classes at the moment and they might not be so on the ball regarding this sort of stuff.

BertrandRussell · 24/05/2018 20:04

Teachers aren't daft, OP- they'll know there's something dodgy going on....