To think this didn’t happen

[Callmesonic888]

Someone I know claims when they were 16 due to not sitting their GCSE’s they went into a year 10 class and re did them. Wore the uniform and everything even though they were year 12 sixth form age

Do you mean they re-did year 11?

Or are they claiming that with no prior planning, they put their school shirt on and walked into the exam hall without the school/exam board issuing them a test paper?

that is unlikely, but resitting or being offered an opportunity to sit an exam is common place.

How old is this person now? Why don’t you believe them?

This could have been my DD. She was being bullied in year 11, and refused to go back to school. We found a school that was doing the same GCSEs with the same exam boards, so we moved house and she was allowed to do an in-year transfer.

If we’d not been able to do this she would have had to go into year 10 in another school and start again. And wear a uniform!

As it transpired it was all by-the-by because we moved house and she didn’t end up sitting her bloody GCSEs anyway because of Covid.

OP, due to my DPs travelling a lot, I didn’t take my A levels until I was 19 - I was a year older than everyone else in my class. Why would it matter if someone was a year, or even two years behind?

What type of school - England, NI, Wales or Scotland, state or private, 11-16 or 11-18?

What year do they say this happened?

2012 and was an 11-18 years state school

So they resat year 11? Or resat both year 10 & 11?

Resitting year 11, completely possible, being educated out of cohort is a thing. If it’s both years (so when they should have been in year 12 started year 10) less likely in a state school but perfectly possible in private.

Lots of kids repeat years for various reasons and there is no obligation to only take GCSEs in the summer you turn 16. (Both older and younger happens.)

have you never hear of anyone repeating a year before?

Back in the 70's I missed a lot of school through illness. After talking to the school and the GP it was agreed that I would not sit my O' levels with my cohort but return to the 5th form as it was then, now year 11, and sit them a year later. Best thing that my parents could have done for me. My mental health would have been in shreds if I had had to cope with the stress of trying to catch up on my studies as well as recovering.

If they were at a school with sixth form, seems feasible to me. Why don't you believe them? Why does it matter?

I don't understand why you'd even question it. There's nothing abnormal about resitting exams surely?

It is more common to go to a 6th form college and resit there, but that’s when you’ve done the exams and resit, this sounds like the person didn’t sit the exams at all, just went back a year and took the exams once.

its possible, at a guess

My DS changed schools at the start of year 11 and then dropped back to repeat year 10.

It is possible.

I had a friend In secondary school who was 20 sitting exams with us (who were mostly 18) but also a few were 17. This was because he repeated his leaving cert (we are in Ireland) here you can start at any age from 4-6. anyway…yeah he was 20 and then we had a newly qualified teacher who 21 (nearly 22) we thought that was funny.