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?

It'll put the marks of the whole examination centre at risk if they just ignore it, especiallyas everyone eill be talking about it. She probably wont get a mark for that exam and will probably be barred from that exam body.

@Onlyforcake sorry to derail but if you get barred from the exam board can u never sit an exam in that subject again

Lots of perfect posters here who have never been distracted under stress and made a mistake!

There are different boards, but less than there used to be. When someone was caught breaking rules in a college I worked in the awarding body took that decision, the tutors had predicted that outcome.

It to cast doubt but did she actually forget? Teens and phones are glued together. All you can do is wait and if it’s not good prepare an appeal. Be honest and state the facts

Lots of perfect posters here who have never been distracted under stress and made a mistake!
And a few like you who are completely missing the point.

Absolutely 100% yes to this above. Very wise advice.

@curiousitygotthebetterofme Wishing your daughter every success going forward. It's worth while remembering that your daughter also won't be the only one in the country. There will be other students reported for malpractise, most of which will be mistakes rather than deliberate cheating.

Stressful for sure, but it's very unlikely she will be disqualified from all her summer exams. She might get disqualified for that one exam though, or that subject, but it's never the end of the world. There are re-sits (usually November/January) plus June 2023. If she's staying on at her current school for sixth form and if she's a hard working student, then I would assume she could start that as planned.

Try to move on and instead focus on what your DD can control. She can continue to study hard and turn up for exams. Continue to have a dialogue with the school in terms of malpractise outcome but also your daughter's mental health.

I don't think anyone is saying that. We're merely pointing out that there have to be consequences for the mistake and they have to be applied consistently.

which is?

Op, I'm not in NI, I can only go on how it would go in Scotland. As she wasn't caught using her phone, and it was on the floor,they may well be more lenient. I imagine they will look at her exam performance in relation to other exams she has performed in - prelims, and other subjects, to see if there's any difference in pattern.

I find it very unlikely she will be completely banned from all of her subjects.

The commentsabout the validity of other exams for other people doesn't apply in this case, because DD didn't cheat.

The poor girl must be gutted. Sending love.

The priority now is for her to focus on the rest of her exams. Does she need a GCSE in this subject for her future plans? I suggest you try to speak to the HOY or Exams Officer tomorrow to get more information.

Your dd's story is one only a mother could believe.

She most likely got the doc she wants open on her phone before she left home then switched the phone off so it wouldnt sound during the exam , Tried to surreptitiously manoeuvre it out of her pocket to look at under the desk , and it has slipped and fallen on the floor
Anyway ,the thing now is to mitigate her losses, work hard fo,r and sit ,her remaining exams, and hope and pray there is not a clear drop off in performance in the coming papers sat without her phone with her.
Make it clear to her that you would much rather see an honest fail than a dishonest pass.

Exam centres and Exam Officers have to follow the rules at the risk of losing their exam centre accreditation or other students being unfairly penalised. Students are reminded constantly about these rules and there are signs outside the exam hall. Every exam centre I know has invigilators reminding students again at the start of the exam. Whether it was a mistake or not, you can't expect other students or the school to take that risk on your daughter's behalf.

In DCs school all phones are handed in to the invigilators at the start of the exam, put in sealed bags, and the students given tickets to retrieve their phone at the end of the exam. It seems a sensible way to make sure all phones are handed in as students enter the room, rather than relying on them having traipsed around the school to hand them into an office or something, when their head is probably full of calculus, or Shakespeare. I hope there aren't any major consequences for your daughter OP, exams are stressful enough.

Which is that they have to apply the rules, no matter how stressed the pupil or how much work they put in. That's the point.

I'm in Scotland and this has happened in my school. The pupil was disqualified from all exams that year. Sorry to be the voice of doom but the exam board point of view was that the pupil was caught once, but could have had the phone for other exams and not been caught.
The phone was switched off and fell out of a pocket at the end of the exam.

They were not excluded from school. There are no resits in Scotland, other than retaking the whole course, but as far as I remember the pupil was allowed to take a few Highers the following year despite not having passed the previous exams.

I don’t understand how this could have happened unintentionally. As others have said - there are signs everywhere AND the invigilators specifically ask all candidates to check their pockets for watches/phones before the exam starts.

Also strange that it was so handy it fell out in the exam hall. I am surprised that the school haven’t taken away the phone to check it out.

I don't understand nobody turns their phones off these days why would she turn it off and put it in her pocket unless she planned to keep it in her pocket and not hand it in, I just can't see how she forgot to hand it in but remembered to turn it off

I hope your daughter is OK, OP. She will be in time💐

The decision is now completely out of yours and your daughters hands. Don’t try and appeal. Don’t beg. Don’t plead with the school/exam board.

It’s a lesson to your daughter that actions have consequences. She needs to accept this.

Even if it was a mistake and switched off, she still had a phone on her person and brought it inside an exam hall. Totally against the rules. Mistake or not, the exam board need to deal with it appropriately how they would do with any other student.

Encourage your daughter to still show up and do her absolute best for her remaining exams. She’ll regret it if she doesn’t.

@Haydugee Pretty sure the school can't legally confiscate a phone and 'look through it'.

The rule is no phones in the exam hall and whether it's switched off, or at the back in a bag but left switched on - if it is discovered the penalties are (rightly) harsh.

Wow people can be brutal on here. Firstly, I can actually believe that she may well have forgotten about the phone. If she switched it off and shoved it in her pocket intending to leave it behind (car, bag - wherever), then assuming she couldn't still feel it in her pocket, in her head she's thinking she's already left it so reminders wouldn't necessarily work.

I once walked through an airport with a bottle of water in my bag. I walked past a million signs and reminders about liquids - put my bag through the scanner and even as the security person asked me if I had any liquids, I said no. On any other occasion, this would have been right - however on this day, I wasn't feeling great and earlier had bought water to take some tablets - then totally forgot about it. By the time I was at the airport I was so tired and just desperate to get home - I forgot I had the water - despite all the reminders. It was an honest, human mistake.

When I sat my law exams I can honestly say going into the exam room my brain was so intensely focused on the information I needed to produce for the exam. I could've been sat in the room wearing a tiara and if there had been a million announcements about "no tiaras" - I still wouldn't have remembered. My brain was focused on one thing. So I CAN understand someone forgetting about a phone on their person if in their head, they already got rid of it.

Anyway - at this point OP - your DD needs to regroup and calm herself down a bit. What's done is done but it's not the end of the world. The best thing she can do right now is park it - and get on with her other exams doing the very best she can. If they disqualify that specific paper - or all her exams in this session - then the only thing she can do is control what happens going forward. She looks at re-sitting the exams next year (be it through her current school - or other school) and while it may put back her career goals - it does not write them off. There are always solutions and while it might mean taking the long way round, if she has a specific career in mind and is determined, she will get there. The important thing is to learn from the mistake and move forward. She cannot change it - but beating herself up won't help - she needs to focus on solutions and moving forward positively. She's not the first and won't be the last student to mess up in this way - it's how she learns from it and deals with it that will count.

@fUNNYfACE36 have you been in an exam recently? It would be near impossible to do that ‘manoeuvre’ you speak of. The phone was switched off so it doesn’t just magically switch off because she dropped it

Wow lots of responses here. People repeatedly telling the OP that the exam will be cancelled. I think she might know that now.

OP please reassure your daughter. She just made a mistake. One with harsh consequences but a mistake nevertheless.

There will be another chance to sit this exam. This is a blip but it can be sorted. Children are under immense pressure around this time and it would be easy for her to think her life is over and she has ruined everything.

She Has Not. It WILL be okay. Maybe take her another year but she can do it.

I worry about her being devastated. Giving up or doing something stupid.

Mistakes happen. That is life.

My dd turns her phone off every day at school so it doesn't accidentally go off and she gets it confiscated. She turns it back on when she leaves. Also, I switch my phone off every night, because why would I need it when I'm asleep?

I work as an invigilator and I was told that one A level student at a school had their phone in their pocket and it rang during an exam and they looked at the phone. They were banned from all academic exams for life - could do vocational exams but no academic exams. (assume this was not urban myth).

It will be automatic disqualification for the paper taken that day as a minimum.