Sick child during GCSEs

[icanonlydosomuch]

What happens if your child is too unwell to get into school and sit any of their exams?

We were told you have to get a letter from doctor

Speak to your schools exam officer for exact guidance.

Each exam board have their own rules. Some are better than others.

gcses are spread over another 6 or so weeks, they arent going to be well enough to sit any of them?

For GCSE - If your child can sit at least 25% of the exam papers then (depending on the situation) special consideration could be requested / applied for for the papers missed. If no papers in a subject are sat then the only option is to resit in a later series. I’m an exams officer and re-read the guidance on this today for a pupil.

There are strict rules and it will depend if she has sat any papers, if she could take any with specific arrangements and whether she may qualify for special consideration due to the underlying cause. The Exams Officer should be the first port of call asap.

Apologies, I didn't mean they can't do any of their exams.

They have been unwell today and have two exams tomorrow!

What did the school say when you asked them?

My daughter has been Ill all week but has still gone in for exams. Really difficult to rearrange. Exam officer said she once had a child with a sick bucket next to them. The exam boards are difficult to work with especially once the paper is released after it’s been sat.

You will need to get them to the GP tomorrow and ask them to write a letter to confirm they are too unwell to attend their exams.
You also need to contact the school's exam officer to say they are too ill to attend and that you will forward information from the GP.
The school's exam officer can then proceed with an application for special consideration, which covers this type of circumstance.

If it can be proven they may qualify for special circumstances, it’s worth asking the school or exam board directly as they’ll have the most up to date information.

If it helps to hear, I missed several of mine. I wasn’t ill, but my dad passed away about halfway through the exam period.
No, it’s not ideal, but I was absolutely fine. Grades were surprisingly good given the circumstances (a little lower than predicted in some subjects but more than ‘enough’) and went on to my college and university of choice as planned with no issue.
Admittedly this was 15 years ago so things may have changed!

Just remember, illnesses or circumstances can’t always be helped and it’s not necessarily the end of the world. Don’t beat yourself up if they miss them. If the worst comes to worse, they’ll be able to resit. Hope they feel better and get the results they’re hoping for!

My daughter has been unwell since Tuesday and unfortunately fell asleep during her exam today as she put her head on the desk she was so dizzy. We'd written this subject off luckily but tonight has been a quiet evening with a nice shower, cuddle and early night. If she can get through maths tomorrow I'll bring her home after. My eldest is doing a levels and hasn't been well either so she had a lie in and went into 6th form late. My 2 have 100% attendance up to now and they arw genuinely unwell!! Youngest said a boy did his English exam in a separate room with a sick bucket Wednesday! I've no idea what to do tomorrow if she's still unwell but I'm hoping she feels better. Good luck for your child's exam and I hope they feel better

They’ve deliberately spaced out the GCSE papers for each subject this year, so there is more chance that students will be well for at least one. They have special arrangements for determining a grade based on the ones you have sat.

This is the AQA guidance- not sure about other boards: www.aqa.org.uk/exams-administration/special-requirements/special-consideration

You really need to speak to the exams office and doctors though asap

There should be a make up day at the end of the exam period for just this reason.

It’s not a make up day. It’s a contingency day in case the exam boards need to move a whole exam nationally.

You can’t just sit a missed one later.

Making them up later is not possible but special consideration may be a way forward for missed ones if at least one other paper from that subject is sat.

How would this work when not only 200 of your peers have sat this exam paper a few days ago but thousands of children around the country will be discussing it online?