DD not given extra time in gcse exam

[Hairyfairy01]

DD took her first gcse exam, having been assessed and granted extra time. This extra time was not provided on the day. To be fair to the school they have admitted that it was their error. They are going to put in a special circumstances form. As I understand it the maximum 'extra' they can provide is 5% - but this is in really extreme circumstances ie death. Realistically does anyone work for an exam board and could give me an idea on what will happen? An additional 1 or 2%?

This is not correct (unless rules have changed very recently indeed).

If the child has autism or ADHD they don't need a separate assessment of this type. It's not an automatic adjustment because they are autistic, but they don't need the separate writing speed etc assessments and evidence of a standard score below 84.

Pg 36 JCQ guidance btw. No form 8 assessment for students with diagnosed autism etc.

Did she speak up and say I have extra time? Because if a student in our setting did that we would not release them until checks had been made with the actual Exams Officer not an invigilator

What exams are taken in January? Is it a mock or controlled assessment? Did she query timings?

Yes she did, however this was ignored. I think that is what annoys me the most.

It's was an actual gcse, well 50 % of it, the second paper is sat in the summer.

OK thanks, good to know I'm incorrect

It's incredibly poorly written tbh and catches a lot of sencos out.

Why does she need extra time? Schools usually assess children to see if it's necessary, bring autistic by itself wouldn't automatically mean extra time.

Can I ask where you are as that might affect what people say. All English GCSEs (lit and lang) are terminal with papers only in the summer (November resit for Language).

My son had it for slow processing speed and writing speed. He had various tests when much younger as well as tests in secondary school (CAT ?) so school had plenty of evidence. I am not sure ASC alone would cut it as some children can be very gifted, but it would usually be specific symptoms such as anxiety, processing speed, need for breaks.

To get extra time the school need to show the child has required and been having that extra time for some time not just at the final GCSEs. My DS had it through Y10 and Y11 for all summer exams, mocks, class tests etc. To be honest, it's a shame it wasn't started earlier as it damaged his self esteem already.

So I work in FE with adults who have either not taken or failed their exams the first time round and are studying again. Most have worked for years in other maybe lower level positions and now find themselves wanting to move up to something that requires GCSE English and Maths. We have to apply for extra time to the exam board(s) and get permission for each student. We have to show that ET is the student's "normal way of working". So we document that in class they has ET for assignments and test and what they would struggle with. Normally it's something like "X has extra time for classwork, because it takes her longer to gain meaning from what she has read. She often re-reads several times before fully understanding a text, which obviously takes her longer than reading the text once." The important question is how does your daughter benefit from ET on assignments/in class tests? If she doesn't (and she is not failing obviously), then does she really need it in exams and why? If it is to do with anxiety, we can also get rest breaks, which means the student can ask for the clock to be stopped for 10 mins per hour for them to move, stretch and calm. This time is then added on at the end of the exam. The boards won't usually give ET and rest breaks on one exam, unless there are totally separate reasons for each. (e.g. a dyslexic student (extra time for reading) with a back problem that causes pain while sitting for long periods (rest breaks).

Just to clear up something said above. The exam was 90 minutes or 1h30m. The extra time would be 25% of that so an extra 23 minutes rounded. Taking you to 113 minutes (not 120 as stated above).
I do think you are due a grovelling apology from the school. It is unforgivable for the invigilator not to have checked.
Also, I'm confused by it being stated that this was English lit foundation. Higher and foundation is a division for language not literature.

I think the OP may be in Wales due to letter grades (or iGCSE?)

Sorry, yes we are in wales, so the WJEC exam board.

My dd was had an assessment at the end of last term (yr8) to see if she needed extra time in exams and she now gets 25% extra in tests.
She has never been tested for adhd or anything like that but although she is in top set for most things she just wasn't doing well when it came to tests and was leaving a lot unfinished.
She's always hated reading and the problem is that she has to read the same bit over and over before she can make sense of it and it was costing her a lot of time.

There are a lot of things that are not great about my dd's school but she just mentioned about her problem to a teacher and she was assessed and given the extra time pretty quickly so it's a shame you are getting push back from your school. I would keep asking.

I work as an invigilator and students will say they have extra time or rest breaks etc but there's nothing on the register. I always check with the exams officer. On odd occasions we have been given the incorrect register with the access arrangements or things have been approved late on.
For future, I would get her to check with the invigilators when they take the register.

Thank you. I do understand that they can't just take her word for it, but i don't believe they even listened to her and instead excused her of cheating (as she carried on proof reading her work). The exam officer basically said it was human error and there should have been some tick by her name on an excel spreadsheet but there wasn't. Like I say she was very apologetic. It just seems like a mad system where things aren't double checked. But the main part that baffles me is how 'the system' thinks an additional 2% will make up for her losing 25% additional time. I don't think it can be denied that this mistake by the school / exam board has put her at a disadvantage?

It's pretty bad human error.
The invigilators should definitely have queried it with the exams officer. If the exams officer had nothing on their records,they surely should have checked with the SEN team.

Thankyou for highlighting this can happen, I actually just found out yesterday my ds will have 25% extra time for his GCSEs next year, so I know now to ensure this happens. He certainly would never question it with staff himself and he will really need that extra time!

That is atrocious. I think I would complain on writing and ask for what steps are for g to be taken going forward to ensure it doesn't happen again and in a way that causes the least stress to your DD ie. she should not need to be "policing" this on exam days.

We just had to send a copy of a letter that included DS1's diagnosis in order for him to get 25% extra time. It meant that he did not have to undergo additional testing. Maybe different areas, or different exam boards have different rules about it.

The assessment is only valid for a certain amount of time, I believe. We got DS1 assessed for dyslexia in yr8 and were asked if we wanted to wait as the assessment wouldn’t “last” until GCSEs

DD gets a small room for her adjustments. She was put in a room with two staff who talked the entire time, we complained and school put in a special circumstances claim but it was denied.

She should have been allowed an extra 25% exam time, so 3 hour exam she would get 3 hours 45 .I utes. School cocked up!
Why didn't 16 year old tell them there and then and decline to finish early?