Masks for mock exams

[Inastatus]

My DD’s school has just announced that because of the rise in cases nationally, and because they will be sitting in a hall with lots of others for a prolonged period, the kids will have to wear masks when they take their mock GCSE’s in a few weeks time.

I don’t understand how it’s ok for them to sit right next to each other in class all day and mix freely in the year group ‘bubbles’ of 250 but they have to wear a mask in an exam hall where they’ll be socially distanced! We also live in an area where cases are currently very low.

My DD wears glasses so it will be a right PITA for her with them constantly steaming up. Any top tips to stop this happening?

Maybe she could practice wearing it for extended periods before her exams? So she's used to it and it isn't a distraction. I wear one all day for a full school day where I work and to be honest at first it drove me utterly insane but now I don't even notice it (I choose a mask over a visor (which I would be able to wear if I wanted ) because it's actually less annoying for me) But if she'd doing exams shed probably want to be past the utterly insane stage! It's ridiculous I agree they shouldn't be wearing them when they need to be focussing on exams .

Perfect for cheating! Think of all the things they could write inside a mask and just sneakily have a peek.

Thanks for your replies. I’ll get her to practice a bit more at home and see if I can try yet another type designed for glasses wearers. She is v good at wearing masks in shops and other situations, I just think an exam hall is not the place to wear them.

@onedayinthefuture - that could be one way of getting her to wear it 😅

I wear glasses and made my own masks. I've found it helps to have a wire over the nose that I can shape to the contours of my face. I also found putting in a twist before I put the elastic over my ears makes a big difference - top of mask elastic goes below ear, bottom of mask elastic goes above ear. Although if I was doing an exam I'd probably take my glasses off as I'm short sighted so can do written work without them on, I just can't walk around without them of see clearly much further than a meter.

Apparently rubbing vaseline on lens then polishing it off helps reduce steaming up.

Might be worth experimenting beforehand.

Apparently surgical taping the nosepiece of the mask down helps. I know it sounds extreme, but your DD's mocks are important and I'm sure she'll just want to be able to do the exam without worrying about what's on her face.
The exhaled breath needs to go somewhere and there is a lot of resistance from the mask so the easiest place for breath to escape is above the nose and into the glasses area. So taping down the nose area of the mask may help.
As another poster said, if she is just short-sighted she may be able to get away with not wearing the glasses during the writing part of the exam?

I don’t understand how it’s ok for them to sit right next to each other in class all day and mix freely in the year group ‘bubbles’ of 250 but they have to wear a mask in an exam hall where they’ll be socially distanced!

It's not 'ok' - the scientific consensus is the way schools have gone back in the UK is an incredibly bad idea in terms of spread of sars-cov-2.

What it will be is probably the invigilators have refused to work unless they have covid secure conditions and/or some other part of the chain insisting on it. Which they have every right to do. As for literally every other workplace other than schools.

You can get plastic mask guard things on Amazon that supposedly make them more comfortable to wear for long periods I am trying them this week and giving one to dd who works in hospitality.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

@IloveJKRowling - but they aren’t external invigilators for these mock exams. They will be the members of staff from the school.

We use external invigilators for mocks.

@Thedrsdocmartens - these are ‘mock’ mocks which the school has decided to do ahead of the real thing. I didn’t explain this in my OP as didn’t think it was relevant. Our school seems to be assessing the year 11’s kids at every opportunity presumably in case of shutting/lockdown/cancelled exams etc. and we have all been advised to treat them as seriously as the real thing.