Will DD likely be penalised for this

[curiousitygotthebetterofme]

DD(15) sat a GCSE exam yesterday, which she prepared so well and worked hard for.

She is aware of all the exam hall rules including that you can’t bring mobile phones in with you.

Yesterday, she had her phone with her but forgot to leave it at the school reception until after the exam was finished.

She was not using her mobile phone during the exam nor did she attempt to. The phone was also switched off.

It was in her pocket and it fell out onto the floor and invigilator seen it happen.

Her head of year rang me yesterday to inform
that they are obliged to report it to the exam board and that they could very well take marks off her or disqualify her.

I feel sorry for DD as she worked so hard for these exams and she has been quite distressed over it all and the possibility of being penalised. It just slipped her mind but she knows to be more aware for future exams.

I get that exam boards have to follow procedures, but surely the fact she wasn't actually using the phone will work in her favour?

if she doesn't sit any further exams they'll be free to infer - presuming she gets good marks in the ones she's taken - that she's done well in exams where she might have been using a phone, and doesn't want to sit ones future where she'll be obviously be prevented from trying. Terrible idea

Accurately put; if it comes to it an appeal may or may not be much use, but that would kill it stone dead

Yes, different in NI. Most (all? I’ve never heard of a “sixth form college” here at all) secondary and grammar schools are 11-18 and include sixth form. Pupils leave after GCSE year obviously and some people move to a different school to do the sixth form bit but it’s way more common to stay at same grammar or secondary right from what we call Year 8 (I think in England this is Y7?) to upper sixth/Y14.

It's essential that she attends her exams as normal this week. She may be lucky. and escape disqualification.

It's also essential that the school report the incident. If they didn't and someone else reported them they could lose their accreditation as an examination centre.

I truly don't understand how she's managed to get herself into this position when we drill them over and over again to hand in their phones but you are where you are.

The story has changed from in the car to in the pocket. It seems as you press for details it changes.

I think you might have to face the fact that while your daughter may be a great student and normally a good person there was an intent here.

here is my reasoning

1 - the story is changing
2 - if it was truly forgotten about despite the warning etc why was the phone switched off?
3 - your daughter has had her head in her books since September, had expressed anxiety and nervousness about the exams - this is because she likely has a fear of failure and as such took the phone with her.

She may not have used it, but I’m sure the phone was there to give her confidence just in case, and as such there is intent there.

I have a feeling the story you are getting from DD isn’t the full truth and this is tied up to point 3 fear of failure and not wanting to disappoint you.

you need to sit her down explain how serious this is and that in all likelyhood it will either require her to do resits in November (if they still do them then) and push back her plans post gcse by a year.

you need to say that while you may be disappointed in what’s taken place what you need to do now is look at how you manage what to do going forward. You need to say that you need the full truth and for her to be open and honest otherwise you cannot help.

whag I would also do would be potentially look to get her some support from a counsellor or a trained professional in CBT as this would do wonders for helping with anxiety and fear of failure

I once (tried to) walk through airport security with my phone in my pocket, and there were plenty of signs about that too. I can understand how that can happen in a stressful situation. Unfortunately she did have her phone on her though, however that happened.

As a teacher, we do tend to emphasise the worst case scenario to students, i.e. getting disqualified from all your exams. However, that's not a given. It could just be that paper or subject that gets disqualified and, depending on the subject, that may not matter much for her next steps. It's still important that she does go in for her other exams.

OP,

I am sorry about this whole mess. I think the fact that the phone was off is a moral point in your DD’s favour. But it also suggests she had been thinking of the phone quite recently before the exam, as teenagers do not turn their phones off without good reason. Possibly this was to leave it with her father? Unless she volunteers this, you simply cannot know. In terms of the rules, as PPs have said it may help somewhat.

(Even at university we see a surprising proportion of academic integrity cases with very strong evidence where the parents are convinced by their child’s claim of innocence.)

Your DD does need your support now as she learns that in life you sometimes need to pick yourself up and start walking again. Luckily it sounds like she has that. I truly believe everyone at school will be willing to put this one time mistake properly to bed when the episode is over.

Did the invigilator not remind them?

Oh please! Read the numerous posts that tell you how many reminders are given.

In our school she would not be disqualified from sitting her other exams at all, although there would extra checks that she didn't have her phone on her. The student that had their paper disqualified was not barred by the exam board from sitting other papers with them either. I imagine this would have been different had the phone been turned on, but as it was off it worked in the student's favour.

Your poor dd, @curiousitygotthebetterofme - I hope she can calm down and collect herself before next week’s exams.

I used to be an exam invigilator, and we were told the story of a pupil who forgot to hand in his phone, and then the exam was delayed - his mum rang him, to find out how the exam had gone, but due to the delay, she rang whilst the exam was still happening, and the pupil answered his phone! If I remember correctly, he lost all the marks/was DQ’d from the exam, but was allowed to do the rest of his exams.

I think there is a reasonable chance that your dd will be allowed to do the rest of her exams, especially if the school are willing to support her, and give her a good reference to the exam board. I know it will feel nigh impossible to her right now, but she needs to put this mistake behind her, and do her best to concentrate on the rest of her papers.

I can see how she made the mistake - if she intended to leave her phone with her dad, maybe she had a brain fart when she got to the exam hall, and forgot she hadn’t left it behind. That would explain why she didn’t hand it in when they made the final announcement about No Phones, before the exam began - because she honestly thought it was in her dad’s car.

To add to this

www.rd.com/article/high-achieving-students-most-likely-to-cheat/

higher achievers are more likely to cheat, and females even more so. That stats really don’t support her

How could she forget whe children are reminded by the invigilator at the beginning of the exam when the rules are read out and they are given the opportunity to hand in anything they are not supposed to have including ELECTRONIC DEVICES.

Sorry OP but either your daughter isn't being completely honest or you are not disclosing the full story here

I have been in GCSE exams and there is no way, you just forget not to hand your phone in.

I notice that you keep repeating how hard she has worked. What is your thinking around the relevance of this?

I thought that too, it was actually quite annoying reading all of the updates 😬

No, @Scepticalwotsits , the DD told her mother she intended to leave the phone with her father but forgot to do so.

I know that high achieving females are particularly vulnerable to pressure and hence have a peculiar temptation to heat. I have sat on enough university committees to know that high achieving young people can be desperately afraid to let their parents down.

I am agnostic about the DD’s intent. It only matters insofar as if she is feeling highly pressurised now, the family should perhaps consider addressing this via counselling before the stakes get higher. The DD needs her parents’ support to bounce back from an explicit mistake in respect of the rules. I also want her to know that educators see this all the time and will be happy to help her put it behind her.

@queenmeadhbh That doesn't apply to all parts of England.

I've lived in at least two areas (north east England and two different West Country locations) where some kids stay on in sixth forms and others prefer to go on to a Sixth Form college (4 that I can think of in the north east off the top of my head, often with a much wider/more modern choice of subjects and facilities than some "standard" private or grammar school educational establishments). That's based on personal experience in 3 generations of my own family.

Horses for courses and all that. :)

I feel very sorry for the OP's daughter, but given what an issue mobile phones can be in educational settings (especially exams) I'd be surprised if there hadn't been been plenty of warnings.

Oldest DS doing GCSEs at the moment.
He said school has posters up all over saying no phones. He said we are reminded constantly before and while going in exam room and then once again before they start yhe exam.

'No, @Scepticalwotsits , the DD told her mother she intended to leave the phone with her father but forgot to do so.'

I believe OP said her daughter thought she'd left it in her father's car, not that she'd intended to and forgotten. She also said she'd forgotten to hand it in at the school office, so it's all really unclear. Did she realize she hadn't left it with dad, intend to take it to the office, then forget to do that as well?

For some reason I thought the phone fell out as the girl was leaving the exam, but I see now that's not the case. I wonder how far in she was? And what caused the phone to fall out?

Good point.

I’m in NI and my ds is sitting GCSEs this year too. It’s absolutely drilled into them that there are no phones in the exam room. My DS has been leaving his at home, I also double check with him in the car en route.

She’ll very likely be disqualified, and though it’s only a mistake, it’s a hard and fast rule and if they let one off, they have to let everyone off. Sorry, but it’s her own fault as it’s made very clear to each pupil not to have a phone. It’s a tough one as she didn’t use it for advantage, but the rules are the rules. She won’t do that again!

They need to report her for malpractice and leave it to the board to decide.
JCQ regulated exams are very strictly controlled - there are rules about posters, reminders, routines etc. If the school messed up, they will have to report themselves. But there's no point in their discussing what might happen next because they don't know.

Its not a court of law. The exam board have rules, she broke them. Lesson learned.

get them to justify it

Why would they have to justify it?

It's pretty obvious why you aren't allowed phones for a start but Ofqual don't have to justify anything.

Rubbish.

DD sat her Higher Drama written paper in Scotland on 1st June. Computer Science exams were 31st May.

It's so lazy to assume that UK = England. We do not have a "half term" in May either.

@curiousitygotthebetterofme oh no your poor daughter!

She should still turn up, can she take the exams privately via an exam centre, lots of home schooled children do that.

@esoryelneh the DD seems bright, bright enough to realise using a phone in a gcse exam won’t work. I don’t buy the cheating theory