Headteacher: Exams should be postponed till next year.

Who is going to mark these exams sat in September? lots of the examiners are teachers! They will be teaching.

These are all ridiculous ideas, resit the year, where on earth will schools house an extra 250-300 children, where will they get the teachers from? It would mean 2 year 13s applying for university places, 2 year 11s applying for sixth form places.

Predicted grades for my son last year were 7+ for lots of these he achieved 9s. The SATS grades for maths meant the school system showed his predicted grade as a 6, his teacher could only over-ride it to show a 7 despite continuously getting 9s on every past paper and homework set. He achieved a 9 in the actual GCSE.

Same for English lang, SATS predicted a 5, school could over-ride to a 6, he achieved an 8.

His mock exam for History was 6 in November, 6 in February and his teacher reckoned he could get that grade up to a 7. He achieved a 9 in the actual GCSE. Predictions are just guess work.

Don’t think invigilators would be a problem if schools shut. Hoards of available staff, volunteers.

Sorry Alevel courses? It’s a ridiculous idea. And as for getting them to work all summer, good luck with that one.

How can they sit exams in Sep. In our city they all go onto a separate 6th form college. Where are they doing September, doing exams? How are their old schools going to fit the extra year group, how are they going to sort out uni courses?

I think that they should postpone exams until September. Students could receive exam results in November and the term should start in January. Obviously allowances would have to be made for missing teaching time,
The peak time for the virus is thought to be about May, which is when the exams start.
Very worrying times

Yes that's a good idea. Hopefully they could be trained in time

Uni students could act as invigilators?

EwwSprouts the trouble is many invigilators, at least in the schools I work in, are all retired and many over 70. There is a worry there may not be many willing to come and work in a school this May/June. Teachers are also not required to invigilate exams.

The whole thing worries me as my DD mocks were very bad in November - she didn't cope well with her father being diagnosed with two cancers and being in hospital for two months- she has already jumped three grades since the mocks and is expected to do well now in her GCSEs however if they were to use predicted grades which were based on her Nov mocks she wouldn't be able to stay on for sixth form or move to another six form as her grades wouldn't be high enough. We are currently liaising with the school about this

Dd3 is doing GCSE and is due to attend a levels in Denmark from August. She is recently diagnosed with dyslexia and her predicted grades will not take this into account. For her exams in September will he complex though I suspect the world school she will attend would support.

Ds is doing a levels I think he would be very unhappy to do a year 13 he says he is done w school just want to leave. His predicted grades are likely fair but I think he could add 1 more. Who knows.

Personally I feel closure of the other years and wider space for exams a better option.

That article is not deeply thought through.

To be fair it is the Guardian...

I too would currently go with sitting exams as usual.
The boundaries could be adjusted (lowered) to reflect the situation.
At least then say 80-90% of the pupils get to sit their exams so you 'only' have to worry about 20-10% who are ill/quarantined.
They could then do the November sittings of English & maths alongside their A levels / further studies.

I think exams should go ahead. They say teenagers aren't going to be affected & there should be enough invigilators & teachers if relax rule about not invigilating in own school though not in similar subjects (exam boards could look for atypical results at a school level).

That article is not deeply thought through.

Another mum to an autistic year 11. This academic year has been difficult enough without the thought of extending it even longer.

Ds is struggling so selfishly it would not worry our him or our family too much if they used predicted grades for results. Understandably many would not be happy with that. I hope they might be able to give us some ideas of contingency plans soon.

the plan is for teachers and invigilators to all have coronavirus by then

What all of them? And all the out of work chefs, students, bar staff, taxi drivers who'd probably be glad of a few hours work? At the same time? Lasting for the whole 8 weeks that exams last for? Even DC couldn't plan that...

Schools are struggling for staff already, so who is going to monitor the exams in a month?

I work at a University - we ask for invigilators from the community and pay them an hourly rate. Invigilators certainly don't have to be school staff.

They're talking about exams being sat in September instead. Hopefully when things have died down a bit.

Since the virus is likely to dip over the summer months, before returning at the end of the year, why not close schools for longer after Easter and then stay open for longer over the summer with exams taking place then.

Titchy the plan is for teachers and invigilators to all have coronvirus by then.

Schools are struggling for staff already, so who is going to monitor the exams in a month?

Obviously repeating a year is a stupid idea, but something needs to happen if we want exams to go ahead.

There is still GCSE music coursework and performances to complete as well which needs to be recorded in school. But the last person who needs to be put at risk is ds's music teacher as he is an older cancer survivor.

Given that young people are generally not affected the only reasonable solution is to let them take their exams at the normal time. Other year groups can be closed so that teachers and invigilators can put students into multiple classrooms rather than cramming everyone into the sport hall.

For most kids a few months lost education won't matter. For those taking exams it matter hugely and for the rest of their life. The cost of enabling this doesn't (yet) outweigh the benefit. If it does then alternatives such as online open book exams taken at home, with provision elsewhere for those unable to access online would be infinitely better than using predicted grades.

My year 11 autistic son would not cope well with another year at school. He's counting down the time until he can go to college to do a vocational btec. Another year of GCSE's and he will just be totally disengaged.

Also dd is on a 3 year vocational course but sits 2 A levels at the end of the second year. Her college is not geared up and does not have the timetable time for 3rd years to continue A levels.

This follows the current zeitgeist at The Guardian ATM. I've read several articles following a similar vein recently.

Wheel out one 'expert' in their field who has a half baked, ill-thought-out idea contrary to all common sense.

The whole system is not going to grind to a halt. There may be a short period of disruption but it will be managed.

Ridiculously stupid to resit year 11 and year 13 - can you image the problems this would incur. How would university's be able to run courses without student fees? Would parents be entitled to an extra year of child benefit for year 13s? The best option is to give all year 11s and year 13s their predicted grades as their final grades. University's would be able to admit students and FE colleges/six form colleges can admit students starting in September. The pressure would be removed from the education system which if schools are shut would be untenable as 70% of teachers are also parents. This whole situation is unprecedented and we should be focusing on the nations health. A few months lost education is not a life breaker in the grand scheme of things. Education comes a distant second here.

Utterly bonkers. Knock on impacts for their entire working lives when there aren't degree spaces because of 2 year's worth of students and 1 year of spaces, starting paying into pensions etc a year later, competing for jobs with the year behind etc. Plus no school leavers in the current year, an entire uni year with no intake etc. It's insane. Let alone logistically impossible.