AIBU that the government policies are unlawful with GCSE and A Level exams this year?

[22examsquestion]

NC as I realise this could be picked up and for once would like a rigorous debate.

‘Today the government policies were shown to be unlawful as documents failed to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from non-symptomatic transmission of covid.’
This was in relation to carehomes.

Next month hundreds of thousands of children will be in exam halls doing GCSE and A Level exams. Some of the children will be extremely medically vulnerable or medically vulnerable.

The government have said children taking exams are not to take a lateral flow test unless told to by a health professional. They are supposed to take exams, untested, with coughs, sore throats etc and should only not go in if they have a high temperature.

If they do get the go-ahead by a doctor to test and are covid positive, they are to go back to exam halls after 3 days, even if still positive on tests.

In the local large comp, the exam hall will have various combinations of years doing different exams. There are at least half a dozen medically vulnerable children (on chemo/severe asthma/neurological conditions etc) in my child’s year. Then there’s the invigilators who are mostly elderly ex teachers etc.

How can this be lawful of the government to impose an exam policy that results in medically vulnerable children sitting exams with knowingly covid-positive children (plus symptomatic yet untested children), if todays ruling for vulnerable adults was unlawful?

We are really struggling to get invigilators. Surprisingly, retirement age adults do not fancy working in halls full of kids. Not for minimum wage!

You're going to freak out when you discover the concept of "school buses".

@titchy and @BooksAndHooks
A few CEV children with suppressed immune systems are still not going to school on the advice of their consultant clinicians. This also means no cinemas, buses, shops etc. These few children are still remote learning from home and pretty much isolating. So as the number is so small, there should not be any issue with granting them exam access arrangements similar to SEN students to keep them safe.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk

I’m pretty sure it’s not behind the wit of schools to provide the same sort of arrangement for physically vulnerable.

It's obviously not 'beyond the wit' of schools, but as @noblegiraffe points out, in some areas potential invigilators are thin on the ground.

But again, why is it suddenly so important to isolate certain kids in separate spaces to do exams, when they've been closely mingling all this time on school buses, in classrooms etc?

This.

Smaller exam room will likely be more risky - less ventilation one adult unable to work around etc

It’s more of a legal question to be honest. I can see how stressed many of the Year 13s are - especially the ones doing hurdles to get into Oxbridge. It would be very stressful to have a covid positive person sitting next to you, knowing you may miss the exams the week later or not be at your best. I can imagine some parents getting very irate.

Its the legality of allowing and saying that should happen - that you should come back to school after 3 days even if still positive. So you will have a possibility of infecting those around you. It’s a new position from the government as far as I can tell.

So how would you get that student who felt fine in themselves but just happened to be positive to sit their exam so they are also not disadvantaged?

I sat my ALevels with quinsy, best mate with glandular fever. 30 years ago. Nothing new in illness around exam time (probably from all the stress that poor YP are put under regarding grades tbh)

It would be very stressful to have a covid positive person sitting next to you, knowing you may miss the exams the week later or not be at your best.

Most kids (and adults now) get mild cold-type symptoms with covid - which anyone could easily have had during exams pre-pandemic anyway. Plus lots of kids get hayfever during exam season. There are all kinds of minor things which make you potentially not at your best.

Of course there are loads of things that can go wrong in exams but never, I believe, have we had a policy written down to say you should come into school to do exams still infectious - which is what this appears to do.

Here’s the article:
inews.co.uk/news/education/gcses-a-levels-2022-exam-covid-positive-test-1565439

We need to move on now.
There are many A level students really struggling with the idea of exams because they didn’t get to sit GCSEs. We have universities who don’t know who to select because of inflated grades - one North London private girls school gave them all A* grades! It is already unfair because some kids had interrupted studies and others didn’t.

We need our children to go back to normal exams in a normal setting. Special cases can be dealt with separately.

but never, I believe, have we had a policy written down to say you should come into school to do exams still infectious

No, people have never needed a policy to tell them to still turn up for their GCSEs or A Levels if they have a cold.

The general policy is that children only need isolate till day 4. That's for all situations, not just exams. The exam-specific policy is that if they have a temperature or covid they can self-certify their illness. So they are not forced to attend. The exam papers have been scheduled to be far enough apart so that if you do miss one through illness, you should be well enough for the second.

Thinking about it I wonder if a lot of kids will simply revise paper one, then if it goes well self-certify their absence for paper 2....?!

Fairisle exactly - never been a policy before this. But now there is.

What are the legalities? Interestingly with the ‘healthy’ Year 13s some have had a hard time of covid and had ‘brain fog’ etc. for a week or two which, with the timetable my child has, would wipe out all A Level exams bar one as the others all fall in 10 days.

I expect with this policy:
GPs will be bombarded by anxious parents/teens to verify a test the morning of exams.
Some pupils will fake positive tests/ high temperatures to get out of exams if they know their assessments are ok grade-wise.
Some pupils with a high temperature (maybe not even covid) won’t be allowed to test and be sent home, even though they want to stay and maybe would have been allowed in the past.
Some pupils will play the system and if the first exams go well and they have a hard one coming up, get a ‘high temperature’.

Theres the potential for it to get messy for exam officers.

The biggest thing though is the health aspect. Obviously exams pale into insignificance when it comes to health of your children. Potentially my child could end up in hospital again. They have been very careful at school and children haven’t come in when they have tested positive. Which is why I asked the original question. Because their is a written policy to allow positively infectious children in.

There not their

Schools are full of covid whether officially testing positive, or kids having a couple of days off ill.

You're making a mountain out of a molehill here.

The majority of students will turn up, do the exam, go home, rinse and repeat.

Lawfully covid positive people are allowed out and about now. There are recommendations for isolating but nothing illegal about going out anywhere with covid. It costs money to test so most people aren't unless they have a stash at home.

Herc yes we get free lateral flow tests because of my child’s condition. Expense and inconvenience of taking tests is a problem, I know, for everyone else.

I think there’s a legal point in not separating children who’s life chances could be affected if they catch covid, especially in the light of today’s announcement. There is nothing in the policy about medically vulnerable children being exposed to covid.

GPs will be bombarded by anxious parents/teens to verify a test the morning of exams.

No they won't, because this isn't a requirement.

Some pupils will fake positive tests/ high temperatures to get out of exams if they know their assessments are ok grade-wise.

How will they know their assessments are ok grade-wise when grade boundaries aren't decided until after the exams have been sat?

Some pupils with a high temperature (maybe not even covid) won’t be allowed to test and be sent home

Pupils with high temperatures shouldn't be sitting exams, they're ill.

Some pupils will play the system and if the first exams go well and they have a hard one coming up, get a ‘high temperature’.

They haven't tended to do that in the past, why would they start doing it now?

I think there’s a legal point in not separating children who’s life chances could be affected if they catch covid, especially in the light of today’s announcement. There is nothing in the policy about medically vulnerable children being exposed to covid.

What do you think has been happening in schools all year?

Noble I thought the test had to be verified/ accepted/ registered by a doctor? That’s what it said on the jcq guide. If I am wrong, that’s good news for doctors!

I know some pupils have already started talking about how to game the system on social media. They can revise really well for one exam and maybe let them off another. Some faked positive lateral flows for their mocks. Your pupils must be better behaved!

My child has one exam in one A Level. Which is a worry if they miss it. Also all A Levels in a 10 days period bar one.

I think all the pupils know their predicted grades and what they would roughly ‘get’ from the 3 sets of mocks plus countless assessments and parents’ evenings.

Lots of pupils sit their exams ill every year because they don’t want to retake and they have worked hard (as pp have said). Pupils with a high temperature will medicate to lower it and go in.

I thought the test had to be verified/ accepted/ registered by a doctor?

Nope.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4537578-info-what-if-your-child-gets-covid-during-exams

I know some pupils have already started talking about how to game the system on social media. They can revise really well for one exam and maybe let them off another

They have to self-certify, their parents have to sign the form to say that they are genuinely ill, as does the school. They are risking disqualification from their exams if they are announcing on social media that they are intending to pretend to be ill, then go ahead and give it a try.

My child has one exam in one A Level.

And no other assessment? What subject is that?

Pupils with a high temperature will medicate to lower it and go in.

They can do that this year if they want to. Who do you think is going to be checking?

I think all the pupils know their predicted grades and what they would roughly ‘get’ from the 3 sets of mocks

Do you think those mocks were also sat in illegal conditions?

Herc my child has gone in in masks, never gone into the 6th form common room and kept away/missed lessons and caught up later when the rates have got really high in her classes. She has spent a lot of time in hospital and has very little social life (she’s not allowed to drink nor learn to drive so that rules out a lot that her peers are into). She’s got to try and live as normal a life as possible but obviously her health comes first. Her teachers and the SEN department have been fantastic.
If she can get these exams out the way, she’s due a big operation then hopefully Uni. I just want to keep her safe.