Question for people whose kids have already done GCSEs

[MumblesParty]

Hi - looking at holidays for next summer.
DS will finish his GCSEs mid June, and the exam board have a "contingency day" on 25th June. I read that "Contingency Days are allocated in case of an event of national or significant local disruption to examinations in the UK". Do people generally wait until after the contingency day to go on holiday?

thanks

We went over contingency day. It is a risk but I've not known it be used

But check for Prom if that is something of interest

I wouldn't risk it.

It is rarely used but would be for things such as a royal funeral etc. then yiu would need to have an exam on that day

DS went to Zante with 6 school friends on A level contingency day - it’s a risk but a very small one

I didn’t even know there was one.

XH and I toyed with the idea (because XH wanted to take ds2 away) but in the end decided against it.

We did think it a very small risk, but ds2 is the type to do things 'by the book', so that plus the small risk was enough to put the kibosh on the idea.

I wouldn't, grandchild's school made it quite clear they needed to be available 'just in case'. It wasn't worth wasting 2 years' work over.

It's a fairly new thing introduced, perhaps for the last 3 years or something. It hasn't yet been used at all, but that's no guarantee for any year.

You'd be advised not to go on holiday over it just in case, but the chances are you won't be found out.
However a lot of schools round here do tend to have the leavers' assembly/prom etc booked for that week, I suspect to discourage going away for it.

When I did O levels (yes, it was a long time ago), there was a leak involving the second biology paper. That paper was cancelled and the exam board put the replacement back to the day after what would otherwise have been our final exam.

A friend of mine therefore failed his biol O level because he was flying out to family in Canada immediately after our "final" exam - that turned out not to be final. So he didn't sit the second paper.

I wouldn't risk it, myself.

Didn't risk it.

We went that day after contingency day for both GCSE and A level. I am quite risk averse so did it to stop me worrying!

If you are prepared, if your DCs maths GCSE exam is rescheduled for that day (in which case the exam board will have no mercy to any special pleading due to prebooked holiday) that you will either have to cancel your holiday and lose the money, or cancel your child's plans for y12&13 study so that they can retake - then go right ahead. Which option will you choose?

If you wouldn't want to make that choice then book the holiday for on or after 26th June.

School has a leavers day and after that you can skip to the airport so long as your dc doesn’t want to go to prom. Officially they’re in school until then (we learned that when dd had a job but couldn’t increase hours until after that date (the leavers’ service/day was the same as the contingency day).

I wouldn’t book a holiday straight after GCSEs there is the prom then and lots of teens go on a post exam jolly with mates. You risk a doleful teen on your hands seeing pics of their pals at the prom and post exam mates trip while they are stuck with mum and dad which would not be much fun for anyone.

We waited, we also avoided prom and several other dates with things going on at school that DS didn't want to miss. We went the week before schools broke up in the end.

Oldest son has done gcses most of his mates had family hols booked start of July onwards. My middle son is taking his next year. His best mates have family holidays booked from 30th June onwards.

It’s a minefield booking holidays with teens early July is safer but you need to work round their festivals/friends trips/plans etc. So much easier when they were little and you could just bundle them in the car on your choice of date end of!

There was some speculation this year that one of the GCSE maths papers may have to be taken again on the contingency day due to complaints made about the paper. It didn't come to anything but I'm not sure I would risk booking anything until after that contingency date.

If nothing else it's just an additional worry at what is already a stressful time.

It isn't just exam contingency days either, it is sixth form taster days which for both of my children were compulsory for admission. Those took place around 6th July. Also prom if that is something they want to attend.

I would never have risked it, if your child cannot get back for the exam that is either a zero mark for a 2 paper exam such as English Language or a 3 paper exam such as maths. That is a lot of potential marks to lose. You might want to look at the grade boundaries for last years exam boards to realise the potential grade drop for your child if they only sit one paper. For maths I believe it would be 100 marks as each paper is 100 marks.

Things happen, the Manchester arena bombing took place on the evening of 22nd May. It was a Monday. Terrorist attacks happen, book the holiday after the contingency date. You can still take advantage of the out of school holiday discounts.

Thanks everyone. We’ve decided we’ll wait till after contingency day, which also happens to be prom day anyway.

Check for other leavers events and 6th form taster days too. We ended up going second week of July to avoid missing all those. But mostly to prioritise prom!

DDs school has made it very clear that we don't go anywhere until after the contingency day...

Your teen will have many holidays in their lifetime but will only leave school once. Dont think any holiday cost saving is worth making your child miss life events for. You might end up like my neighbour whose (normally lovely) lad flatly refused to go to wales with mum and dad as he would miss two parties. He wouldn’t get in the car! We laugh about it now but still. We all learnt from that one!