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.

Don’t feel the need to respond to nasty posts. No one has to justify themselves here and certainly not your DD/what she’s been through.

I completely agree with this. Best wishes to you both.

I think try and read up or take advice about changing her name by statutory declaration rather than deed poll, which has to go through the courts for a child. Statutory declaration is just done with a solicitor in their office and might be 'official' enough for the school to change their records and hence your DD's exam name.

There's no such thing as legal name in the UK, only the name you are known by and can prove you are known by.

A deed poll is just one way to prove the name you use.

Try getting a passport or driving licence as Magnetic Peasant.

The deed poll only has to be signed by the father I'm sure you can find someone to help you 😉 I would commit fraud for DS without a doubt plus he would have to find out

🤦🏻‍♀️ You clearly don’t understand how Examination Boards operate. It doesn’t really matter what name is on the exam paper but that name is the one on the Board paperwork and who the award has been made to.

You can't arbitrarily change a name on a certificate without ensuring that the exam board paperwork where the award was granted is amended and authorised by the relevant Board member.

Imagine if ‘student new name’ loses her certificates 5 yr later and asks for a replacement? The exam board has to search through their records to confirm what award was granted to ‘student new name’. If they haven’t amended the paper trail properly, then they won’t find an award to ‘student new name’. It’s pretty basic exam board admin.

@stichguru

It’s interesting how unaware school staff are of what is or isn’t a legal requirement. A student can be entered for an exam in whatever name they want to and that’s why schools have no problem letting George register for the exam under his new identity of Miss Pink Fluffiness.

@Surenameissues4 You really need to push back hard and don’t let the school staff fob you off.

Ask them what they’d do if a pupil suddenly identified as the opposite sex. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 only applies to adults so the school can’t reasonably claim that the Act requires them to make an exception to their made up rule of ‘legal name’, because it clearly doesn’t apply to children.

Exam certificates can be used as ID for a DBS checks...

Just for those who think you can stick whatever you want on them

It sounds like she has found a way to make peace with this. Does she have counselling, it may be that some EMDR or similar neurolinguistic programming technique might help her to reframe her response to his name.

Wishing her and you all the very best.

"We can only amend personal details based on your birth certificate. We're unable to amend name changes made by deed poll after the results of the exam have been issued. For further information, please refer to the UK Deed Poll Service"

https://www.aqa.org.uk/contact-us/certificate-services/amendments-to-original-certificates

Unless things have changed dramatically in the last few years, my son changed his name by deed poll online at 15. At the time we were told it was a grey area and no one has ever been prosecuted,them being so close to 16 and quite capable of making an informed decision. I paid for 4 certified copies and everywhere accepted them with no problem. It wasn't expensive at the time so it might be worth a message to one of the online companies. Just a thought.

@AuldSpookySewers who is arbitrarily amending certificates? The exam board has a process and following the process allows for the relevant paperwork to be amended and the certificate issued in the correct legal name.
I'm not really sure what your problem is with me or the advice I have given. The OP can take or leave the advice or seek further advice from her own DD's school as she chooses, you can believe or disbelieve me as you choose, after all there are plenty of people giving incorrect advice all over the Internet!

Go to a solicitor and change it via statutory declaration

Hmm I'm not sure if its actually a legal requirement but I was told the same by my school for GCSE's - I was using a known name (basically dropped one part of a double barrel) but the school insisted that I write the exams in the name on my birth certificate - this is the exact words they used otherwise I might not have even really twigged that it applied to me if they'd have said 'legal'.
I brought it up with college when I sat my a levels and again at university and they said that they didn't care, had no idea why I'd been forced to do it at school and I could put my name down as whatever I wanted essentially (which probably isn't true but I really remember how baffled they were by it all!) I have a feeling one of the 2 said that it didn't matter because my current name was a part of my original name so identifiable trail or something !? This was years ago so hard to remember exactly.
I'm now married so its kind of redundant that I have different exams in 2 different names which is different to my married name.
I think its probably only going to be a problem if in the future someone disputes her qualifications being hers? Which for GCSE's I can't imagine employers caring that much.
If a trans student is being allowed to use their chosen name without legally changing it then that does seem unfair but I imagine the school won't discuss another students situation with you, so it might not be possible to argue that as a case.
I'm sorry your daughter is in this situation and that its going to cause her hurt though.

That's the bit DD doesn't understand. Trans students get their certificates in their new name or changed to their new name for free. We'd have the pay £40 per request according to AQA. We understand that they are different circumstances but she's been through something horrific so why can't situations like hers be treated the with the same support as others. I'm really surprised that this isn't part of some special circumstances.

If he has a passport, driving licence and bank accounts in the name then his name has been officially changed.

The UK is a bit weird as depending on your age how you go around changing your name has changed over the years.

The easiest thing for adults to do though if no-one accepts how you change it is just to write up a deed poll and get two other adults who live at a different address to witness it. (I was going to do this with the passport office who were the ones who allowed me to change my name in the first place over 20 years ago but wouldn't process my DD's passport.)

@Surenameissues4 It is because public bodies/agencies, businesses and charities are afraid of being sued under the Equality Act and/or gender recognition acts. There as victims of abuse don't have the same legal clout.

The problem is until someone has the strength to do a campaign and highlight the issue then nothing will change.

Tell her to identify as a transgirl, see what happens.

Even if you get someone to write the name for her, her official name will still be on her table. When I had my exams, your name would be on a laminated piece of paper placed on your exam table. They then use this for all your exams. Unless it's changed as it's been nearly 15 years since I did my GCSE's .

I understand it's difficult for her, but at the end of the day it's just a name.

Read the AQA guidance again. They won't change the name on the certificate after the results are issued unless trans (because the GRA added that requirement). Anything else they will only correct to match the birth certificate.

You don't have to pay £40, because they won't/can't do what you want them to.

You need to change it before she's entered into the exams, and definitely before the results are issued.

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned changing name by declaration, but that’s what I did until of an age to go the deed poll route:
https://deedpolloffice.com/change-name/other-ways-to-change-your-name#:~:text=Their%20are%20certain%20limited%20situations,of%20your%20change%20of%20name.

That is utterly disgusting that they won't allow her to say it is her "dead name"

Can your husband adopt her? You can send a letter of intent to your local authority giving them 3 months notice. By January you will be able to apply to court. Might go through by exams but would be tight