Rest breaks for GCSES

However, if exams are not for her, perhaps finding a route based purely on coursework would be best.

The thing is, in life and education, there will always be these tests and pressure situations. So perhaps finding a way to increase her resilience towards them or desensitise her to them would be wise too.

Today has been a bad day - she wrote barely nothing. Exams just freak her out beyond beleif but she needs at least 4's to get into college. Not quite sure what happens if she get belows this.

Speak to schools exams officer. There are some things they can do as a school but also some things you need to register and have permission for from the examining boards.

The evidence for the OP situation could be that in the last mocks she had RBs and did well. But that in these mocks she didn’t get them and performed more poorly. That would show a need for them.

www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/AA_regs_21-22_FINAL.pdf

Here’s the official regulations. Rest breaks are in section 5.1.

The sticking point seems to be ‘normal way of working’. If she rarely uses it, it’s not her normal way of working.

I had rest breaks and I was in a smaller room during my GCSEs not that long ago (due to mental health problems). As far as I’m aware the SENCO just decided that it was fine and nothing else needed to happen, although things may have changed. We weren’t allowed to leave the room but the breaks definitely helped a lot in terms of having time to calm down etc. Some teachers looked upon it quite negatively if you didn’t have what they deemed to be a ‘proper reason’ for being in a separate room. But anxiety definitely is a valid reason so your daughter should be entitled to breaks and a smaller room. Best of luck to you and her

Please ensure you know the difference between rest breaks and extra time.

RB’s only need evidence and centre note.
ET needs application and to meet the toughened new criteria.

They are different things.

It is possible that OP’s DD would meet the Equality Act definition. It is normal to feel slightly anxious before/during an exam but not to the extent she doesn’t eat or sleep and panics resulting in significantly underperforming. If she has anxiety around exams to this extent it is unlikely her anxiety is only ever present for exams, it is more likely it is present at other times to a lesser extent or fluctuates.

Aarrrgghh I’m completely confused. I need to sort this out for ds if I can. The rest breaks would help him significantly since he gets pain in his hands

You also don’t need a diagnosis to be covered by the Equality Act and classed as having a disability. source The guidance states "It is not necessary for the cause of the impairment to be established, nor does the impairment have to be the result of an illness."

But you do need to satisfy the definition of disability if you’re applying on mental health/emotional grounds? I understand that a medical diagnosis isn’t required because it’s a legal question whether the definition in the equality act is satisfied, not a medical one. But in order to get rest breaks it says on page 29 that the senco has to be satisfied that the equality act definition is satisfied

Get a meeting with the SENDCO and head of year. Push for what she needs.

Following on from my other post - I've checked the JCQ guidelines and they can leave the room if supervised. However from my experience most of the children entitled to extra time/rest breaks or who feel overwhelmed in a big exam room, do their exams in a smaller room with 1 invigilator and 1 spare outside. That's why I said it wouldn't be practical for multiple people to leave the room.
In our main exam hall we have lots of invigilators and it is a lot easier to supervise them out of the hall for a few minutes, but unfortunately the ones needing the rest breaks are usually not in the hall. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation really.

User you don’t need 2 impairments to qualify for rest breaks. Page 30 is about 25% extra time. Pg 29 is about rest breaks and the rules aren’t as you state. Even for extra time below average standardised scores are only relevant where a Form 8 is needed, not for all extra time applications. Although for speed of writing word processing/speech to text software would be considered before extra time

You also don’t need a diagnosis to be covered by the Equality Act and classed as having a disability. source The guidance states "It is not necessary for the cause of the impairment to be established, nor does the impairment have to be the result of an illness."

I shall be delighted if I’m wrong because ds1 has been told he can’t have rest breaks because although he scores well below average for writing speed because of an issue with his hand, he scores above average on the other tests and he has to have below average in two categories

But the category of mental health requires a substantial impairment as per the equality act

Page 30 requirements are for extra time, not rest breaks.

Page 30 if that document sets out very clearly that rest breaks are not permitted unless the candidate qualifies as disabled under the equality act and that two below average standardised scores are required. I personally think that’s challengable legally since it goes further than the equality act, but it is currently the rule. There’s no way that exam anxiety qualifies

I'm an invigilator and today I had 10 children out of 12 who could have rest breaks (it's a bit of a nightmare for invigilators to keep track of - extra time was much easier).
If they all decided they wanted to go for a walk there would be nobody to go with them. We have 1 "float" invigilator for the smaller rooms who takes people to the toilet. There is no capacity for anyone to leave the room for a rest break and we have never been told that is an option.
In our school a rest break is where they sit back for a bit after telling the invigilator when they want to stop/start and the time is added on to the end. They are not allowed the toilet in rest break time - they have to do that in exam time.

A candidate on a supervised rest break absolutely can leave the room if they need to (accompanied by an invigilator).

You need to speak to the SENCo and Exams Officer.

My DS is in Year 11. He is currently sitting mocks and has developed school anxiety since last year.
He is sitting his mocks in a small room with other children with differing needs.

He has been told he can take a rest break in the room. The school said he will take his GCSEs in the same way as this is his (now) typical way of working.

But they document says the candidate must have an impairment which has a substantial and long term effect (wording which mirrors the definition of disability in the equality act) so the Ops dd surely wouldn’t qualify without a diagnosis.

And how does this sit with the new rules that you have to have two impairments in order to access extra time?

I am not thinking about how to manage it wondering why she has exam anxiety? Is she generally anxious? Does she feel it’s the end of the world if she doesn’t pass? I think it’s normal to feel anxious about exams, you need a certain amount of anxiety to propel you. Wouldn’t it be better to try and get on top of the anxiety rather than enabling it because when she gets into the world of work no employer is going to make allowances or give rest breaks. What about when she takes her driving test? Sorry if this seems harsh but I am just thinking it would be better for her if you could get to the root cause of her anxiety now rather than later, otherwise that anxiety will just attach itself to the next hurdle in her life.

My dd is now at university, she had 25% extra time, one rest break per hour, room on her own and was allowed tea (not sure that was in writing) I know she had an letter because we had to submit a copy to the university to prove what had be authorised for a levels

The problem is that if she doesn’t use them during her mocks, there is no evidence that she will need the provision during the main exam. If she uses them in several exams, there is a clear need established and therefore she can be granted them for the main exams.
Provision of rest breaks, especially if she is likely to need to leave the exam room, might require an extra invigilator to be employed for instance.

It may have been different if this was some years ago for your DD but these two things are the schools decision only.