Year 9 and Year 10 GCSE students - unfairly treated by Ofqual?

Doing 25 separate exams for 11 GCSEs in 1.5 months in Y11 is a cruelty to children and is certainly not the best way to access someone's ability. And what if child gets, say , a cold and is off-sick for a week?

Well the vast majority of 16 year olds manage this 'cruelty' If a kids sick for one of their exams their results can be based on the other exam.

Or they have no exams for a week and two on the same day, how is that friendly to children and not putting under undue stress?

But every other kid manages this. Avoiding stress and exams is really poor practice - kids need to learn strategies to deal with taking exams over a short space of time.

The exam boards do coordinate timetables btw, but it isn't always possible to space things out given weird combinations that some kids do.

It's not cheating taking an exam you are still sitting it wether a year early or not
Exam boards specifically have engineered their exams to be sat as a terminal year in Year 11, that’s why. Some schools, like the OP’s and yours are happy for this terminal year to be in Year 9 or 10 and take the hit on league tables presumably.
It is not better when a student opts to take a subject they have last studied in Year 9, for A Level, for example.

Op I think it's likely ours will be expected to take end of year 11 and as other people's schools don't do it they can't see issue , my concern is also that my year 10 is missing quite a lot of school year which of course can't be helped and if they go back in September they have a lot of catching up to do as I appreciate all years do ,but year 10 and 13 will be sitting mocks shortly after going back and will have a lot of catching up to do quite quickly .If they allow the schools to enter them they should at least allow them to sit in autumn as they have prepared for it just as much but for those whose children aren't affected they won't see the issue

Interestingly, since Sept 2019, there have been no schools that have been awarded ‘outstanding’ who were previously ‘outstanding’ and only 6 awarded good to outstanding. Didn’t you say your school has always been awarded outstanding at every visit, OP?

www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/monthly-management-information-ofsteds-school-inspections-outcomes

Why is it not better you are still sitting one exam earlier if your capable ? Exams aren't for everybody and sitting 11 at once isn't always ideal . My other son is doing a couple of btechs as well which I'm glad at a he also won't have to sit so many papers . He will still be working as hard as Btech work is consistently marked and ha lots of coursework in it . It's not cheating taking an exam you are still sitting it wether a year early or not . Some are saying it's unfair why ? The system isn't exactly fair anyway, my oldest has been judged in his ability in a few hrs of exams and got quite a bit below his capabilities as exams aren't his strongpoint not all children are capable of sitting multiple exams , some should maybe just sit 6 or 7 and do well at those rather than be made to take more, or doing a couple year earlier and spreading them out makes total sense to me

Ofqual have been very clear form day one that they did not want to use predicted grades if it could be avoided. First option was always to delay assessment, second adapt, third predict.

Since y10 and 9 can have a delayed assessment they do not need to go through adapt and predict. They can take it in the resit period in autumn. They haven't been disadvantaged at all, they are able to show what they can do appropriately whereas the y11's can't because they are moving onto the next phase.

Never heard of a school doing what yours are doing and they would be seen as high risk by many for doing it.

Hi I'm not sure if they are approaching ofqual re : result they just said they were waiting clarification on it.
I will contact them after Easter to ask if we have not heard , bearing in mind these year 10'a are also going to miss out on good few weeks of gcse learning as well as can't all be done at home and for some impossible

Also I will add my other son sat 11 gcse and had so many papers so doing one or two early I can see benefits

Of course it is easier. Doesn’t mean it is better though.

Also I will add my other son sat 11 gcse and had so many papers so doing one or two early I can see benefits . He would of actually benefited from teacher assessments as he worked consistently at a higher level than he managed to pass at in the exams as so many papers etc in short amount of time , maybe the schools that do it early is a benefit for some children I know for my oldest it would of been as he is more capable than his grades actually show , a few less papers could if helped , which is why I was glad when my youngest was getting one out of the way a well as the school dropped a gcse so felt he was standing a better chance of showing his potential

Cross post. You were inspected last October and rated outstanding? Was it a Deep Dive?

Why is it cheating doing an exam early

But the OP is not just talking about ‘an’ exam early. The OP is talking about a school that is gaming the system with many exams taken in a staggered approach that has long since been frowned upon in order to maintain their ‘outstanding’ results, rather than following rules/guidance. This does not put schools/students at a level playing field. In addition, it is also a dangerous strategy and was deliberately changed after the English exam debacle a few years ago so as to ensure all schools follow fair procedures. The OP’s school are doing this purely for results and not what will be best for the students in the long term, leaving many underprepared for the next stage in their education. It is also why, finally, ‘outstanding’ schools have been out back in to the Ofsted visit ‘cycle’ again
(I would hazard a guess that the OP’s school does not have a Sixth Form attached that the pupils move on to either, but happy to be corrected)

Op I'm hoping they may allow them to sit early still but probably can't confirm as they can't say for sure when schools will be back or if these exams can take place . I very much doubt they will do teacher assessments but then as they allow the schools to enter the children probably should be the same principle as if it is against the rules as some are saying then surely you could not enter them anyway . Maybe different ways of doing suit different kids .

Only two respondents are in the same situation, yet many others jumped on the thread to blame the school.

That’s because you were blaming Ofqual for being unfair.

My son was due to do English lit a year early and I thought was a great idea one less paper next year and they have worked just as hard as year 11 to prepare for the exam . Why is it cheating doing an exam early , our school also did options year 8 started studying from year 9 , year earlier than lots , I also like this idea as my kids don't need to keep learning say art , music and drama if which they had no interest in , where as other kids would rather spend more time on those subjects as opposed to say history etc . But they recently had ofsted inspection and have gone back to options year 9 no consulting parents or kids from ofsted just what they think is right . Ofsted in my opinion aren't always right either