To expect the school to acknowlege this?

[londonmummy1966]

Posting here for traffic as I don't think I'm BU but open to being told otherwise. Also a bit of a WWYD I apologise for the length as I don't want to drip feed.

DD15 had Y10 exams last term which were supposed to take place in the week after half term. Two weeks before half term her timetable came out with half of her exams crammed into the 2 days before half term. This meant 4.5 hours a day of written exams. After half term she had a further 2 heavy days of papers on the Monday and Tuesday and only one further paper on the Thursday. She had been diagnosed with tendonitis and carpal tunnel and her consultant had written to the school to say that she had problems with hand writing and needed rest breaks. School said she could have 15 mins per hour with paper taken away. I spoke to HOY and said I was worried both that she would struggle with the pain of so many papers crammed into 2 days and also that it was unfair she had so little notice of some many exams before half term when most of the year only had a couple in those 2 days and the rest spread out over the week after half term (and half term to revise) . She agreed to move 1 paper but was adamant she would do nothing further as her GCSEs might be like this. (Consultant has already said she would have steroid injections etc if necessary for her public exams but he would be unhappy giving them for school exams.)

The 2 days were a disaster by the afternoon of the first day dd was unable to hold her pen and HOY made her go and dictate a maths paper (including geometry!). I complained and the school said it would sort her timetable out over half term. On the Monday after half term the same thing happened and she had to dictate the second half of her second Maths paper. By this stage she was in a state of panic and the rest of the exams also went badly.

Since then she has had a formal assessment by an Ed Psych which says that in addition to rest breaks she is entitled to 25% extra time and a room to herself for her exams.

Here comes the AIBU/WWYD - I sent the report to the SENCO and HOY abut neither have come back to me about it. I have today received a letter from the HOY saying that DD needs to resit 4 papers on the day before school starts. She will be allowed rest breaks but no extra time etc. The result of these resits will determine whether she can do all of her GCSEs (and if she doesn't take all of them she will not be allowed back for 6th form as the school require 8 level 6s/A grades). Given the importance of these exams AIBU to think that the extra time etc ought to be allowed. Also that in the circumstances the school ought to have learned that 4 papers in one day is not an option for her at the moment given her injury? I sort of feel she is being set up to fail. So I guess its a bit of WWYD as I feel really stressed out now.

If you made it to the end thanks for reading and I'd be grateful for thoughts.

You obviously need to raise this and push the point

However, it is obvious that maths is the worst paper to do by dictation. Could she not have dictated the earlier papers, saving her wrist for the maths papers? Something to think about for future

GCSE students shouldn't sit more than 5 1/2 hours in one day. Each session should be no more than 3 hours (a session being a morning or afternoon) if either of these times are exceeded the exams officer and the school are required to make alternative arrangements, including looking at moving exams to another day. http://www.theexamsoffice.org/userfiles/files/20152016/Resolving%20exam%20clashess_2016.pdf

If your dd's GCSEs depend on these exams the conditions should be the same. Please also push the SENco for the extra time, this will help in spacing the exams apart.

Thanks @modest that is really helpful to know - does that apply even where the exams are split over a number of different exam boards do you know?

Yes, it's all exams the student is taking. Extra time counts in the 5 1/2 hours so 3 2 hour exams with 25% extra time would be 2.5 hours each and 7.5 total, no amount of shuffling will make that fit into one day.

Google the JCQ guidelines. They regulate all uk exams. Look especially at exam clashes and additional requirements/ extra time. The HOY won't have a leg to stand on if you know what you're talking about.

Also additional requirements should reflect the students normal way of working so they can't expect her to dictate if she doesn't usually do this in class. If the dictation is the route they go down they need to provide provisions for her to practice in class.

Can I ask why they are not suggesting surgery. As a surgeon myself when I developed carpal tunnel that was seriously affecting my surgical technique I researched and saw a surgeon who agreed with my research that for carpal tunnel which is affecting function surgery rapidly is the best option to stop long term nerve damage.
The surgery was under local anaesthetic took less than 15 minutes I had several weeks of physio, but was back to full intricate surgical strength in 6 months.

Has she seen a hand therapist that might be able to give her alternative strategies for handwriting? I was taught a different pen-hold by one, and it made a huge difference to my pain and the length of time I could write, and I so wish I'd known about it back when I was doing exams. There is an excellent one in London who is a music specialist as well (private, though, and costly, but would be worth it for a session or two).

Does she have to write? Couldn’t she be given the opportunity to use a laptop? Can the ed psych recommend sometime like that?

My dd and ds were both advised to use a laptop as their normal way of working for hyper mobility.

As a pianist I imagine her hand position will be good and she can transfer that to typing. However dh is a pianist (1st study voice but has always played piano a lot including working as an accompanist) and his RSI is now bad so be prepared this may only get worse.

I developed severe tendonitis in both wrists in my 3rd year at university and had to dictate all my exams since my wrists were in splints. I read biochemistry so that was quite a challenge! I don't know if this is available under the NHS but I had therapeutic ultrasound which helped reduce the inflammation. Hope you get somewhere with the school, OP.

Och, your poor lass.
Wouldn't it have been possible for her to have a scribe for the exams?

Thanks once again to everyone - she is having ultrasound at present as part of her ongoing physio. The next step will be steroid injections and failing that surgery. Typing is a no no for her as it will aggravate the problem she has so her option is going to be dictation. A pp suggested she practice so we will do this over the summer and investigate some voice recognition software too.

I've arranged a telephone consultation with her specialist tomorrow so hopefully he will have some suggestions then.

modest thank you so much for all that information - at present HOY is just saying that she may have over heavy days as the school use a mixture of exam boards so it is really helpful to know that we can call a limit.

I'm so grateful for everyone's help as it is a bit of a nightmare at present.

Good luck OP I hope that the school start to listen and sort something out for her!

School may well not be open for staff on the Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday are our Inset days and no-one will be in on the Monday.
I do hope school sort out additional time and spacing the exams out.

I had this during my GCSE's, I had a severely broken arm during the Christmas period, and due to tendon and ligament damage on top of pre-existing carpal tunnel- my consultant wrote a letter saying that I needed a computer- my school at the time took until the week before my actual exams, but I did end up with it- (I did have to have an assessment- but it was deemed the only way I would be able to do the exams) this was continued through A-Level and till the end of my university course, as my carpal tunnel has never really improved- though I don't have the option of steroid injections due to an underlying medical condition)- best of luck to you DD though! hopefully, the school will pull their heads out of their arses and sort this out!

Thanks everyone - I really appreciate everyon'e's suggestions. I had a good chat with her consultant who has said he will write to to say that he is concerned the proposed timetable will exacerbate her continuing problems and that he has advised me not to let her take all the resits in one day. Hopefully that, plus my offer that they let her take half the day before will work.

I'm also going to insist that they comply with her Ed Psych report as they can then compare the results with the previous exams with out extra time and her own room. If anyone out there has a wording they've successfully used to get a school to comply in this way I'd be really grateful to see it!

As a HoY and a teacher who deals with a large number of students with additional needs in regard to examinations, I would 100% push the school to allow your daughter to sit her Y10 exams with the conditions specified by the EdPsyc. So, own room, rest breaks, scribe and extra time. If she is allowed this in her real GCSEs then there is no valid counter arguement as far as I’m concerned. I would also contact the school’s SENCo as this would fall under their remit (she essentially has a temporary disability)

Also, to reassure you, it is very unlikely that students have more than two GCSEs in a day. All English papers, for example, are timetabled for the same day regardless of exam board. Where clashes do happen is when students study more ‘unique’ subjects with very small national cohorts (astronomy, Dutch etc).

In all honestly, I would be very angry at a school that based a decision that could influence my daughter’s chances at accessing her preferred 6th form based on exams in Y10 - I would expect that if she were in too much pain to sit them then a teacher assessment of her potential based on her effort and achievement across Y10 would be sufficient. Why are they insisting she battle through non-essential exams?!

Finally, it is not in the school’s best interests for any students to sit less than eight GCSEs unless for a very specific reason. The new measure of success is Progress 8 which is based on students’ top 8 results.

thanks Addictedtotea its really helpful to have an opinion from a HOY. I think I'm still going to agree that she does the resits provided she can do them over 2 days and with the ED Psych recommendations. I'm still really angry wit myself for not having made a bigger fuss at the time of the exams as I really feel she was set up to fail at that point.