Failed Maths GCSE - Appeal or not?

But she needs to get on with studying hard for her maths now while she has time in the holidays, and not rely on an appeal. November will rush round very soon so co carted work now could be very helpful. She really doesn’t want to have to be doing maths all year round to next summer, plus in the summer it will count as a retake while November won’t - make the most of that

Head of Sixth here. I actually disagree with most of the above and would appeal on the grounds that special cons has been applied to one student and not the other for the same event, and so the stage one appeal should be enough since parity hasn’t been shown between the two students (the fact they are siblings isn’t the point).

It doesn’t actually matter about the reasons for special cons and whether they ‘should’ have been applied (this isn’t meant negatively - I’m very sorry this happened to your daughters) but once the school has accepted a special cons reason for one student it must be applied for all students involved.

Having said all this, this isn’t technically a maths “problem’ unless it specifically happened on the day of that assessment, and that’s the way it’s been applied to your eldest daughter i.e. she got special com’s for that one subject that day, but I understand why the maths appeal is most important.

Put simply, the school will have seen appeals this week for much less than this! So I reckon it’s worth a shot if it potentially saves her having to retake.

@EllieNBeeb it's meant to have been more holistic than that though. Given the process for awarding grades saying someone missed by 3 marks is a bit on the odd side. Particularly as there were no grade boundaries this year. We were given (not very useful) descriptors instead. First stop is to check the school's policy.

Honestly I’d just draw a line under it and really focus on prepping for the November exam to get that grade 4. Dragging the appeal out till end of October May mean her full focus isn’t on revision and that’s not what you want.

Even if schools aren't using one piece of evidence, they will still have to assign value to evidence and weighting to them in order to provide some sort of mark. It's all marks, isn't it? If she missed by three marks, it doesn't mean she missed by three marks on one bit of evidence, just that her overall grade was three marks out if the boundary decided to be a 4

Sounds like you've not really understood how grades were awarded this year. She may have missed out by 3 marks on one assessment but her final grade would have been based on more than that. School have had to state in a policy how each subject was assessed and this should have been published on their website. Have you read the policy for your daughter's school? It might be worth appealing, BUT grades can go down as well as up. It is too late for special consideration now, it should have been applied for before schools submitted their grades to the exam board.

I'm not sure why she was told she missed it by 3 marks. It shouldn't have been based on 1 piece of evidence really. The school should have informed you how marks were being awarded. They should also have informed you of the appeals process. I would be checking they followed their own TAG process as this sounds a bit odd to me.

In a ‘normal’ year then I’d advise pupils who missed a grade by 3 marks to appeal. This year, the appeals system is totally different. I believe you can only appeal if you feel the school didn’t follow its policy for awarding grades (ie if your child was treated differently to other children in the school). Tbh, I’m amazed anyone told her she missed a grade by x marks (not suggesting you’re lying btw) because that’s simply not how most schools decided the grades. The best idea right now would probably be to contact school and ask to speak to whoever was responsible for CAGs and ask to discuss it with them. Understanding the process / data they used better then you might help you decide what to do.

A "just missed" grade with no other considerations is unlikely to be changed because it is unlikely to be considered an unreasonable professional judgement. Not taking into account special circumstances is I think more likely to be considered. Everything has to go through the school first, so I'd be contacting them now.

I am not asking for special circumstances now just asking if we should appeal as it was only by 3 marks, you can’t tell me none of you would be considering it if it was your child missing out by 3 marks or is it only the ones who got 8s instead of 9s for example and who are clever that should appeal if it was by a few marks. I’m sure the advice would be different then.

In a normal year I absolutely would if it was the difference between a pass and a fail. Itis just that this year it’ll be much more difficult (or so everything I’ve heard tells me) to change the result. By all means have a go if it’s what you and your dd want to do, you’re right to speak to the school first and get their advice on next steps.

I’d also probably never bother appealing an 8 trying to get a 9. A few years ago they would have both been A* and to me it just wouldn’t seem worth the stress.

The first type of appeal is as administrative check where the school checks everything was done correctly. That would be worth doing.

She can't have 'missed out on a grade by 3 marks' though because that's not how grades were awarded this year. If she got a grade 3 that means most of the evidence they collected for her was grade 3 (e.g. tests, mocks, homeworks). Your daughter should have had a meeting where she was told the evidence being used. Are you sure she didn't?

It must be very disappointing for her to not have passed, especially after such a difficult year.

I don’t think that you can ask for special circumstances in hindsight unfortunately. It’s going to be hard to appeal this year, unless you think that you can prove that the school didn’t follow the marking protocol.

Her best bet will likely be to keep revising and retake in the autumn when she has every chance, with a bit of hard work, that she will pass.

My son also fail his. He will resit in autumn.
That’s how it works.

It sounds as if she was borderline and the cohort got moderated down a little. If she had had special consideration it may still not have nudged her over. Her options sound quite time consuming, most take 3 subjects maximum, are they level 2 or 3 courses. Can she resit maths in the Autumn?

Thanks for the replies.

I didn’t know you had to ask for Special Circumstances. My eldest was put down for it by the head of 6th form apparently.

Her teacher told her she failed by three marks after she got her results.

I’m not a mind reader who knows how they worked out the grades. Granted if she sat the actual GCSE and failed by 3 marks that is different than her teacher working out what she should get based on numerous tests, mock etc.

How do I know if they have made a mistake unless she appeals?

Thanks for the replies. For those with the harsh comments my girls had to deal with a father who said ‘go f*ck yourself’, among numerous other swear words and put downs, plus we were homeless for a few weeks, she would definitely have got those 3 marks if not for that and Covid as well.

Will leave DD to decide what she wants to do.

With all due respect you CAN NOT say she would have got 3 extra marks if that situation hadn't of happened. You can say you feel she would have done better without the trauma of abuse from a family member and homelessness.

Secondly the situation you described would not count as special circumstances -maybe just maybe if your GP could say it had caused anxiety etc. But being sworn at by someone (although I'm sorry it happened and it should never happen) would mean 50% of Year 11 would need special consideration. The homelessness yes -that might be worth special consideration, I don't know the exact circumstances it depends how much evidence you have. But you can not say -she would of passed because she didn't. Even if you say with a top maths tutor 1 hour a day for 365 days -you can't say even with this that she WOULD of passed. A higher chance maybe but not a definite. . There is no harm in asking -but it needed to be done before not after. You can't expect the school to be mind readers either.

The grade is NOT due to the individual teacher. The students would have sat locked papers (2019 papers) which were kept locked for that reason. These were usually done under exam conditions and marked according to the 2019 markscheme and grade boundaries. The grades WERE NOT allowed to be given to students. The papers were then scanned in and the centre (the school) then made a case to the exam board with evidence to say .........this is what assessments we did, these are the papers, marked etc and this is the level given and the exam board say they accepted, or wanted to view the evidence, or didn't accept it. But this is what most schools did.

Your daughter's school will have communicatde their policy clearly with you -it will be on their website. All school did this - it is up to you to read it.

eg I have just literally clicked on 2 random schools and the policies are totally clear!!
(Random school)
downhammarketacademy.co.uk/exams/
www.bristolfreeschool.org.uk/exams-information.php

Look at her school website and find the information.

My DC was without a computer for 3 weeks in lockdown -that wouldn't have been taken into account. She also got Covid -she got no special consideration. Covid is not a special consideration.

Sorry it combined them again but there's 2 links

www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/JCQ-Student-Guide-July-2021-Handout.pdf

www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/JCQ-Student-Appeals-Guide-2021.pdf

With better formatting

www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/JCQ-Student-Appeals-Guide-2021.pdf

www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/JCQ-Student-Guide-July-2021-Handout.pdf

Our school sent these to parents and kids

I assume the 3 marks away thing was a test that she took.
Every school calculated the grades differently because the government told them it was up to them but your kids teachers should have explained what percentage each test was.
Eg 4 tests worth 25% each.

My kids were asked to fill in a form for special consideration (if they needed it) during form time and sign a declaration thing. Our school told us to contact them if there was anything that they should know.

If they let you appeal I would. Unless she wants to do it again at college and see if she can get a higher mark.

@mirjon66 I think you need to contact the school and ask for advice both on the appeal process as well as how these marks were assessed.

We were given a standard document explaining if we wish appeal as well as how each grade was given as well as evidence of all his exams in the Summer .

If you have not received anything, I would email them. They should of given you an email address rather than a generic admin email

I would help her retake in November. Hopefully you can sort the special considerations with the school and practice more until then so she gets the pass.
Good luck