16 year old anxiety- not able to do exams

[lu9months]

hi all my son has anxiety and depression and is under a psychologist and on antidepressants. he started back at school ok but hasnt been able toget in to do the mock exams which the school say they will use to base his gcses on. he feels like hes failed, and that he will never get back in after easter hols for further tests. im trying to support him. has anyone been in a similar situation? did anything help? and can the school mark him down if hes not well enough to do exams?

If he doesn’t do the work then of course he’ll fail.
Does he/ did he have a “sick note” from the GP to excuse him from the mock exams?

hes done all the work for the year but was too anxious to do some of the exams. teachers can use a variety of things to base their grades on as long as they show evidence. im sure if he missed exams due to ill physical health they would use alternative forms of assessment. ive asked them to consider zoom / remote tests for example.

I was anxious and depressed during GCSEs and my mum had died two months prior but ultimately I just had to get on with it.

Sometimes, students who are unable to get into school for exams may have an invigilator come to their home to conduct the exam. Covid probably complicates that somewhat but if your DS is revising for the exams and worrying about getting into school is the obstacle, contact the school now and ask about alternative ways of him submitting assessments. If they have no evidence of his independent work, they may be unable to award him a grade at all but if he has marks from earlier in the year plus work submitted during lockdown, and is able to cope with assessments at home for the core subjects, the school may be able to put something in place. You need to make contact in writing (email) with the SENCo and the exams officer ASAP.

It's rough getting ill in an exam year. I would get on to school about process for this extenuating circumstances, see what they will base it on - can he sit invigilated mocks at home - and then see what the grades are. There's always the autumn retakes. Life carries on with bad grades but health is important.

The problem is the school will need evidence for what they are basing his grades on. If he's not sat any exams then they have little evidence for what they can award him.

I appreciate it's really tough, but under normal circumstances he'd have had to sit formal GCSEs under exam conditions. If he hadn't been able to do that then he'd simply have received no certificates. Extenuating circumstances for not taking a whole set of exams are really difficult to get, normally. We've had a child whose sister committed suicide roughly 3 weeks before their GCSEs, for example. They still had to sit them to get a grade.

Can he do the retakes next year?

@FelicityPike

If he doesn’t do the work then of course he’ll fail. Does he/ did he have a “sick note” from the GP to excuse him from the mock exams?

That is a phenomenally unhelpful answer.

This GCSE year is unlike any other- even last year.

If he's bright and has worked steadily for the past 18 months there is no reason for him to fail - teachers just need enough evidence to prove he is capable of what ever grade. Mock exams are not on place of final exams, they're just helping to build evidence of what a student is capable of.

Back when I was at school a friend was allowed to complete her exams in a classroom instead of the hall with the rest of the students. I'm not sure if this would be helpful to your son in the future but maybe something to explore with the school?

Sorry your son is suffering OP, anxiety and depression are no joke. Exam years can seem like the be all and end all, but remember, even if he can't get the grades he needs this year, there are options at colleges to resit when he's better. The most important thing is that he gets better .

thanks all. he did mocks in dec. and managed some last week but not all. the school did let him do those exam in a quiet room with several other anxious kids. so they do have some evidence. ive offered to pay an invigilator so he can do them at home - waiting to hear. hopefully, although he might not have enough evidence for the highest grades, he should have enough to get him the grades for 6th form. if not he would resit i guess. anxiety and depression are so disabling. i think he would have been better if the year hadnt been so stop/start

It might be worth asking on the GCSE 2021 thread OP.

Access arrangements will already have been applied for for this year (which is when students take exams in a room other than the hall with everybody else) but a few marks can be applied for special circumstances.

You really need to speak to the school and ask exactly how they are assessing.

Is he planning on staying at the same school for 6th form? If so, they will already know if he's an Alevel student or not.

In normal years if a student is unable to sit an exams due to medical reasons but has completed at least 25% of the GCSE assessments a grade can be given.

Some access arrangements such as rest breaks, sitting exams in a separate room or even at home don't need to be applied for, evidence just needs to be provided if requested. Unless it is an independent school you should not be paying.

This is totally different to any other year.

Schools need to provide evidence and ideally use the same type of evidence across the whole cohurt for consistency - but they do NOT have to and can explain extenuating circumstances for those where they have to provide different evidence.

Mocks do not have to be part of the evidence.

Please have a meeting with someone friendly at the school about what the alternatives are - does he have a SENCO?

It is possible he can do short assessments in class - or provide other things.

He's not going to be the only one needing this so do see what else they've set up.

One school I really respect is saying we are going to tell you your Assessed grades as we see them now, and then help you work to provide the evidence to achieve them.

Realistically - and not in biased-mum mode - what grade do you think he should be getting in each subject? Can you discuss how he provides the evidence?

Though you do need to be careful about "aiming to influence"... so need to keep it about his mental health which like many has deteriorate massively with Covid

@lu9monthslu9months Depending on which board he is taking the general evidence used to assess grades should be the same across the cohort. However the guidance specifically states that if there is good reason that it can't be (eg. illness which I would suggest includes MH issues) then other evidence can be used instead. Therefore the school should be able to assess a grade for him based on previous pieces of work. If you want to message me privately I am happy to talk this through with you and point you to the appropriate piece of the JCQ guidance to approach the school to request this. If he is sitting exams with CIE the situation is even better as they do not have the same desire for it to be the same evidence across the class or cohort.

@lu9months I have retagged you as I appear to have incorrectly done so above.

thanks @SeasonsFinale, ive looked at the guidance; the school are not prepared to let him do the exams at home, even with an invigilator. they are happy for him to come in next week or do them after the hols but at the moment he is saying this is too much for him . im worried he is about to drop out completely.
@namechangeforthisjjjjjj he is bright and is predicted good grades, but the school are set on using these exams and exams next term to prove they are giving grades appropriately
thanks all. feeling really desperately sad for him today.

Good luck - it sounds like its worth messaging Seasonsfinale.... to be as well armed as you can be

You may have to fight for them but you can do it with calmness and persistence. Yes schools are wanting to keep their lives simple - heavens knows they've been overstretched - but this is your child and you can ask to have meetings about alternatives.

Heavens knows Ive had to fight for my child over the years - what seems to help most is being calm, clear, appreciative - and persistent.

@lu9months The point I am making is that if he is unable to do the same assessments as his class is that they may use other pieces of work (that may already exist) as his evidence of a grade.

JCQ guidance states at page 20 "Ideally, the evidence used will be consistent across the class or cohort but that may not always
be the case if a student has missed some teaching, or one or more assessments, for valid reasons".

And on page 24 ". However, where illness or other personal
circumstances might have temporarily affected performance, for example in mock exams, centres should bear that in mind when making their judgements (see stage 4, above). Another opportunity may be made available to replace that evidence with another piece where there is a justified rationale and recorded for doing so".

This is the link to that guidance : www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/JCQ-Guidance-on-the-Determination-of-Grades-for-A-AS-Levels-and-GCSEs-Summer-2021.pdf

This would cover most of the exam boards other than CIE but they are allowing three pieces of evidence that do not have to be the same three for each candidate.

To be honest it’s not worth sacrificing his mental health at the moment. What does he want to do after school? I’m assuming not university if he can’t face exams, so perhaps just see if he’d be happier to leave school? He could get an apprenticeship or similar and perhaps some time to work on his MH a bit and also experience some real life.
Not to be harsh at all but my elder dd had anxiety and missed quite a bit of school over the years from age 13-15 I’d say and friendship issues etc. She fell pregnant unexpectedly age 17 and had her baby age 18 and I swear it’s been the making of her- but she says herself now she wishes I had actually pushed her out of her comfort zone a bit. Not to say she wished I hadn’t supported her, but she can see now that having a baby made her have to actually not give up when the going got tough and she realised she was tougher.

Sorry. Drifting a bit but what I’m trying to say is maybe some real life wouldn’t be the worst thing for your son rather than focusing on exams. Which can be achieved at a later date if he decides he wants a career that needs exams that is.

thanks all. hes very bright though not hard working and is predicted excellent grades. until a couple of weeks ago he wanted to go to 6th form and then to university. im not sure if thats going to be do-able

Could accommodations like extra time and writing in a separate room, or somewhere else work? I don't know your son, but often anxiety will dissipate as time goes on during the exam and once the student starts to feel comfortable. Hence the extra time.

Can you do some practice exams at home, with timing etc to desensitize him?

@lu9months
My y11 DD hasn't been in school at all for y11 as she crashed quite badly a year ago with anxiety and depression. She hasn't been well enough to access schoolwork either.

We have agreed a 'bespoke' set of assessments to be done at home after the Easter holidays, some with the school providing invigilators and some not.
(She is only being entered now for 4 GCSEs Maths, Eng Lang and 2 others that they started in y9 so she has done most of the syllabus).

Friends/acquaintances ask me if she can redo the year, but I don't see the point provided she gets enough for her chosen college course.

We only have a hope of this because she is finally on some meds that are helping. Is your son getting any help?

@TeenMinusTests my son is on antidepressants and under a psychiatrist. ive specifically asked if he can do assessments at homes and offered to pay an invigilator, but the head has said absolutely not, that its not equal/fair and they need to be seen to be offering the same access to everyone. im really interested to hear other schools are offering this. I really feel the school should.

It might not be equal but it is certainly fair.

My DD had an excellent attendance record from yR to Xmas y10. She would be in school if she could!

(After all, other people get exam concessions like laptops, extra time, scribes. That isn't equal either.)

I don't know what more you can do, but I hope you manage to get something sorted.