My son missed 4 GCSE exams due to being ill.

Thank you @catndogslife . I emailed school last night and someone has got back to me already about getting something sorted. They've been amazing.

@Sonispoorlytoo have a word with the hospital education service. They are likely to have systems in place to provide extra support for students sitting exams.

I'm sorry your son's school haven't been good at keeping in touch with you. As other posters have said, I would email [email protected] or .com or something like that.

My son has also been ill and has missed a similar amount of exams. There is a lot of information on this thread that is very different to what we've been told by his school. They have been very supportive. Emailing and ringing. I had pre warned them if it looked like my son would miss a paper. We've been told that we dont need a doctor's note and have been sent the 'self certification form for students who have missed an examination'

My son is in hospital now as his symptoms over the last few weeks came to a head. I've no idea what will happen with his remaining exams because even though he should be out by next week, he won't be well enough to sit through an exam without considerable support.

Our school were clear. You come in to sit even if ill. One of DD course mates was having to leave the exam to vomit.

What has been the matter with him?

Do you have evidence of him being ill? Has he missed all of one subject or different subjects?

5% will never be awarded for ill health, this is the max awarded for eg death of a parent in the week before exams.

He can’t sit them on other days; they’re gone. Did school not provide this information in advance to you? Ours did, and they’re pretty rubbish. Special consideration is submitted at the end of the series so you have a couple of weeks to get your evidence together, but without GP attendance and medication you will be unlikely to be successful. As pp’s have said, the maximum is 5%. Where there are multiple components, he will be awarded on the components he has sat. If he has missed them all, he will get a U grade. English and Maths are available to resit in November, but this isn’t much help in terms of getting on the college course. It is practically impossible to resit a full suite of GCSEs thanks to Mr Gove but there are level 2 alternatives.

Some of the links above are out of date.

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Guide_to_spec_con_process_2023_24_FINAL.pdf

https://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/other-documents/estimating-the-missing-mark-when-a-candidate-is-absent/

Yes this. Often pondered why they didn’t offer Science in Nov too since it was always considered core subject, but they don’t of course.

Only Maths and English Language are available as November resits.

No, even in hospital, you cannot be given a grade from mocks or coursework.

Special consideration covers many situations, but it only adds on a percentage of marks gained to a sat exam, or takes into account a missed paper when others in the subject are still sat (for GCSE at least 25% of the exam components must have been sat).

Otherwise, even if in hospital, grades are only ever given/determined on completed exam papers.

Unfortunately not, retaking in November is probably his only option

That's only if you're in hospital

Have you taken him to the doctor? The exam board will want a doctors note

It’s possible but the % is not much. 5% is max and for things like death of parent! I’ll attach link to this years guidance and on page 17 ish is the % categories. JCQ Special Con for summer 2024

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Guide_to_spec_con_process_2023_24_FINAL.pdf

You will need medical evidence such as a letter from the GP explaining the illness.

Special consideration only gives you a tiny percentage point extra. My nephew’s mother died unexpectedly just a week before the first GCSE - he found her - and he was only allowed 5%. I think that’s the maximum. He did sit all the exams, though.

@NoahFeilding former exams officer until very recently. Email the exams officer for your school and keep them fully updated. Send any evidence you have.

If he only missed say 1 paper out of 3, the exam board can average his grade from the 2 papers he sits to cover the 3rd missed paper.

If he misses all papers in a subject then there is nothing the exam board can do. In fairness, bad health sometimes means the only option is to resit the course later. Health comes before exams and life sometimes gets in the way.

Hope he’s better soon and just make sure you are in communication with the exams officer.

Have you gone to the gp so that there is independent confirmation of his illness?

Coursework & Mocks are no longer a possible option to assign a grade from under special circumstances. This is because mocks are unregulated and all schools do them differently and many subjects do not have coursework.

SC will only use other papers sat from same subject to assess average grade expected or add on 1-5% marks to a paper if the paper was sat but some hardship was suffered, depending on incident that happened.

How ill is ill? Hospital ill, possibly yes. But generally 'I feel shit today so I can't go in' probably not. I think a few kids have been caught out that way this year; especially those who have been used to having days off here and there for being ill, whereas other kids who have been ill have come in for the exam, then gone home. A few kids have been genuinely stunned that missing an exam (woke up late/ felt ill/ got day wrong) doesn't mean they get to sit it another day.

if he has only missed one exam per subject he will be ok - they will use the other paper to give him a grade. He will need medical evidence.

Definitely phone but also email - you need a record of your contacting the school

No no no, there are no grades for mocks. There are also no grades for coursework unless this is already part of the exam being sat.

@NoahFeilding in your place I would be going in to the school immediately if you can as you do need to speak to someone.