Surname on exam

[Surenameissues4]

My DD is 15 (not 16 until Aug). She was SA by her father and had no contact with him in 5 years. She has been going by my now married surname since after saying how seeing her previous surname all the time at school (fathers name) was negativity affecting her mental health. She has had her surname changed everywhere now and it has helped her.
She came back quite distraught from school after being told she had to use her legal surname on her GCSE papers. She can't change by deedpoll until she's 16 years old but due to her being one of the youngest in the year, that won't be until after she's sat her exams.
I'm not sure on how to help her. On on hand, it's just a name, but it clearly a big deal to her mental wellbeing

IABU - it's just a name, she can change it when she's 16 years old
IANBU - help her fight to use her current surname if it's affecting her that much.

You have to fill out the deed poll form - it is free -and then type up a letter that you sign as person with parental responsibility

https://freedeedpoll.org.uk/

That creates the deedoll

For a passport you have to prove the name is being used somewhere (I changed on the gov portal for child benefit and printed that out) .. now all the paperwork is in one name.

I found out last year that a couple of Year11s were trans while entering them for GCSEs.
I am surprised you were able to use a name of your choosing on exam certificates.

But the school enter students using their legal names (for obvious reasons).

Ok, so had a sit down chat with DD. The idea has come from hearing that a transgender student was allowed to have their name changed for exam but they haven't changed their birth certificate or legal name. She's adamant it's a known only name too. Not sure if this someone she knows or knows of. But she's asked for some time to think things over so I'll approach her again later to talk about it. She doesn't want to go to the courts about it so I'm also going to talk to school/exam board for advice.

I would have thought the OP has sole parental responsibility

You can apply through a court for the removal of parental responsibility - Was he convicted?

Is he on the birth cert?

That's a different area of law.

I'm an exams officer and have had a few students triggered for various reasons by having to use their legal name. I've worked around it by just asking the student to write the name they use and then I add their legal name on before it goes to the board.
Certificates are printed around now and sent out to schools in November so just give the exams officer a copy of your DDs new legal name after her birthday ad before October and they can get certificates in her new name.
The exams officer will be able to help if you speak to them, being unable to use a name due to trauma is sadly a lot more common than you'd hope. 💐

The wee is no escaping the name she was born with and you will fail her if you don't help to empower her to get over the sight of seeing the name on legal documents and the exam papers she is currently sitting.

She has chosen her everyday name and will have to put up with it until she legally changes her name.

Sometimes in life we have to face things that upset us and by encouraging resilience your daughter will be all the stronger for it.

Everyone cheerfully states ‘these are the rules’ because they believe them to be so but if you asked them to find the precedent from any relevant case law, they’d come unstuck because it doesn't exist.

Courts can make new laws but school admin staff haven’t been granted those powers yet. 😂

So are you saying that you will arrange for exam certificates to be printed in a different name to the awards paperwork approved by the exam board?

Find out which exam board they’re using and write to them, explaining how traumatic is is for DD to use that name.

It has to be worth a try.

No @AuldSpookySewers I mean that if the student legally changes their name at any point between GCSE /A -Level entries being done (usually December in my centre) and the printing of certificates that I update the exam board and ensure the relevant paperwork continues in the students new legal name.
I have done this for students before when they have turned 16 and changed their names, sometimes the name change happens before GCSEs start, sometimes during GCSEs and sometimes after GCSEs finish but before the certificates are printed.

@ObieJoyful , someone in the exams office at the school can fill in the surname, it's not a big deal.

I have just passed this onto my DD. She's really happy to know this an option. Of course she doesn't want to write the old surname down, but it was having it printed on a certificate that she wouldn't want to look at etc that was causing the most distress.
Thank you

I think you mean before the Exam Board confers the award?

The certificate is simply a formal copy of the decision of a particular Board.

I would let the exams officer know that your DD will send a copy of the deed poll once her name has been changed and then follow up in September to make sure it's done Surenamesissues4 . Just so that in the event of a change of a staff etc if her certificates are printed in her old name you can ask the school to arrange and pay for them to be corrected. I had to do this my first year as the previous exams officer had left before summer, I started after the summer and as I was new no one passed me the paperwork. It was very easy sorted, just cost the school a fair bit!

She will have to have legal surname on all exam entries and write it on all exam papers but once she is 16 and changed it tell the school by end of August and her certificates can be printed with her new surname.

No simply I mean before the exam board physically prints the certificate and sends it to the school, nothing to do with when or what decision is made by the exam board.

Also talk to the exams officer at school. If it's mentally destabilising her she could agree that the invigilator/exams officer adds her surname to each paper after end of exam. This is totally allowed - one invigilator writes the surname and initials it and a second one initials as a counter signature.

She will also have a candidate card with her name on her desk - this is an exam board requirement. The exam officer could agree perhaps that this card is turned over on her desk so can't be seen ( and invigilators are made aware of situations)

We had a bit off a faff a month before my son sat his GCSEs this year. His birth surname was changed by deed poll when he was a few years old, hes gone by the deedpoll surname ever since. He tried to open a bank account under his deedpoll name and the lady in the bank told us that his deedpoll was missing something and therefore wasn't actually a legal document, so legally his name was still his birth name. I Spoke with the school who checked with the exam board and he completed his GCSEs using his (not legally binding) deedpoll name, exam certificate has also come through in the deedpoll name, he's now at 6th form registered under the deedpoll name. Everyone was made aware the deedpoll isn't legally binding but it hasn't been an issue, so he's continued to use that name whilst we get the deedpoll sorted.

1. Sit her down & explain situation.
2. There is no quick cheap solution until she is 16.
3. Make a plan for doing deed poll on her birthday, and plan something like setting the old name or fire, or chucking it in the sewer
4. Giver her a gift on birthday with her initials and make a champagne toast.
5. A renewal or name celebration
6. She can get driver license with new name after theory test

Tell her the bad news and plan something creative and fun.
And she’s not allowed to let this impact her exams.

Come on
The only time changing a name would be a bother to do with the exams, would be between the school registering her for the exams around October/November of her year 11 and the results coming out in the August.

If she'd done it so that her name was officially changed and had passed into all her school records by now, all the exam paperwork would be done in her new name. If she waits one more year, she'll have done her exams, and got her results and after that it's completely possible for new certificates to be issued if the exam boards are contacted with the name change proof.

If the abuse had just happened completely absolutely fair enough, but she's been no contact with dad for five years. So she's had 5 years where she could have change it and hasn't felt it was urgent enough to get it done, from 9 months time she could do it freely, and yet JUST in these 9 months it's so desperate that she NEEDS the school to act illegally... yeah right!

If you want to change an under 16s name you need agreement from both parents, unless you go to court. That is not an easy route and the OP has already said her daughter does not want to do that. It is not the OPs daughters or the OPs fault they are in this situation. Neither are they asking for the school to act illegally. I also think your post is massively lacking in empathy.

OP I'm glad you're daughters feeling a bit easier and there's some possible avenues for you to explore with the school.

Where has anyone said about asking the school to act illegally!? I asked if there was any advice or something I might have missed after my DD heard about another student having their name changed. Yes, completely different circumstances from my DD but to her if they can, why can't she.
I've already explained the situation. At first the surname didn't have any impact on my DD at age 10. It was when I married and changed my name that she asked. Her father had just stopped hounding for what ever contact he could try and get. He was leaving her alone. The judge did not remove his PR. DD understands that he would have to give permission and would highly likely open doors for him to restart all his BS. She asked me to leave it and at the time it was the best thing. She was 11 years old and finally starting to move, he was leaving her alone and we could start to live as peaceful life as we could.
She has lived with her new surname since and is happier. But yes I did think she would be allowed to just use it given the circumstances. It's not as if she just woke one day and decided that she wanted to change her name. On top of other students being able to, I can completely see why she thought she would.
Unfortunately that's not the case and life has dealt her a rubbish hand. I only came here to see if there anyone who might have had a similar thing. Some people have given some sound advise and has made DD feel better about it all.
So read the original post before bothering to comment. I haven't said about doing anything illegal. It wasn't urgent 5 years ago, not more than a scrap of peace for my DD who has been through enough. I didn't choose for him to keep his PR and we know him enough to know that asking for his permission would open more rubbish for her then a surname. I really hope you've never and will never have to make these choices about anything like this.

I don't think it's true they'll only just the legal name, MIL told DH she'd legally changed his name, his GCSEs, A levels and first degree are all in this name, it was only flagged when he applied for enhanced vetting for work and then she admitted she'd never actually done the paperwork when he was a child, just changed it on any form she filled in.