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Being forced to wear a mask in exams

118 replies

whodoesntlovejelly · 13/11/2020 07:57

So I've received an email from Dd's (age 15) school stating that during mock examinations-due to start on Monday it will be mandatory for all students to wear masks for the whole of every exam. Is it just me that thinks this will be absolutely awful for them??

OP posts:
AlexaShutUp · 13/11/2020 14:19

I really do worry about people's lack of adaptability when I read posts like this. Wearing a mask might not be the most comfortable thing ever, but there really isn't any need to make such a big deal of it.

I'm sure that there will be exemptions for those who have a genuine medical reason as to why they can't wear a mask. The other kids just need to suck it up and crack on.

As the parent of a year 11 who is going to sit her mocks shortly, I find it really hard to understand why a parent would focus on this kind of trivia when there are so many much bigger concerns to worry about. Personally, I am just hoping that the schools are able to stay open as much as possible, that none of dd's teachers get sick and that something is done to help the most disadvantaged kids catch up. DD having to wear a mask in her exams is not even on my radar of things to worry about.

sherryperry · 13/11/2020 14:30

Safariboot, I understand your concerns. However, my experiences lead me to feel that the government has acted appallingly but schools in general are still trying to prioritise pupil wellbeing. Conversations with senior staff about individual cases would be beneficial in any case.

jamaisjedors · 13/11/2020 14:34

Every single child in secondary and sixth form is wearing a mask all day every day at school here in France.

What makes English/British children exceptional? Hmm

kittykat35 · 13/11/2020 14:38

@jamaisjedors same here in Ireland... Confused

TheDrsDocMartens · 13/11/2020 14:42

@TicTacTwo

I'm surprised that y11 mocks aren't held in the school hall where presumably the space between desks would be considered socially distant (or am I remembering exam halls incorrectly?) Therefore I would expect no masks until it's time to leave the room.
1 m between desks.

I invigilated exams last week. Only in groups of 3 and able to be positioned in rooms away from the noise meant we could have windows and doors open.
This couldn’t happen in the hall. The noise is bad enough with everything shut.

GCAcademic · 13/11/2020 14:43

@Wherehavetheteletubbiesgone

Lol the complaining about masks on here shows why the western world is largely finished. Never has such a fuss been made about such a little pathetic sacrifice. Just wear a mask like thousand of surgeons, tradespeople, lab users and nurses do each and every day and stop looking to be the victim in everything.
This. It sounds like the last days of Rome on here sometimes. Children "damned" because they have to wear masks, ffs. In many other countries children wear masks to school all day every day. In others, 15 year olds don't even get to go to school.
LadybirdsAreFab · 13/11/2020 14:48

All school children here in the UAE are wearing masks as well. We've been wearing them since May/June so we had to get through the hottest months wearing one. It's just part of life now.

99victoria · 13/11/2020 15:02

@TicTacTwo - some mock exams involve the whole year group at once eg science, maths, english. At the school where i work this is 220 students to seat. The rest of the normal school provision is still taking place as normal.

For external exams the regulations say there must be 1.25m between the exam desks but this is measured from the middle of one desk to the middle of the next so nowhere near 2m between the actual candidates. For mock exams, schools often put the desks closer together because they are restricted by the regulations and it's difficult to find enough space for exams to take place

99victoria · 13/11/2020 15:03

*not restricted

Billie18 · 13/11/2020 15:30

@whodoesntlovejelly

So I've received an email from Dd's (age 15) school stating that during mock examinations-due to start on Monday it will be mandatory for all students to wear masks for the whole of every exam. Is it just me that thinks this will be absolutely awful for them??
Would wearing a face mask during an exam cause your Dd severe stress? If so she does not have to wear one.
CKBJ · 13/11/2020 15:36

As other posters have said pupils, often younger than 11years old, are wearing masks all day every day with no fuss. Why is it such a British problem?!

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 13/11/2020 15:37

@TicTacTwo

I'm surprised that y11 mocks aren't held in the school hall where presumably the space between desks would be considered socially distant (or am I remembering exam halls incorrectly?) Therefore I would expect no masks until it's time to leave the room.
In our school they are less than 2 metres apart

1.8 i think 🤔

I might have made that up

BusterTheBulldog · 13/11/2020 15:40

Surely it’s the one time it’s not awful, sat down quietly, no having to speak, no exerting oneself, I think it sounds fine.

Sparklyring · 13/11/2020 15:42

Its absolutely fine, not awful at all. What a dramatic over reaction.

DottyWott · 13/11/2020 15:49

It’s something you become accustomed to. Sounds difficult because it’s new .
Surgery has always been performed with masks on and I don’t think any surgeon would say it impairs their performance.

I recently did a 3 hours written exam with a mask on. It was fine. The spoken exams were trickier - mainly hearing and being heard because there was a social distance too. But not insurmountable problems in the great scheme of things.

CorvusPurpureus · 13/11/2020 15:51

I'm in the ME, teaching. Everyone has been wearing masks for months. They are mandatory for students except during breaks, when each year group has a socially distanced area & clearly marked places (stickers 2m apart, with a chair unless it's the bleachers by the pitch or the external steps in the main quad so they can already sit down) for mask removal.

It's fine. I only get irritated by mine now if I'm teaching from the front of the room & talking for extended periods.

Exams absolutely justify mask wearing - anything up to a couple of hundred kids in a gym or hall with no open windows, desks far closer together than 2m & invigilators walking between the rows & needing to get right up close to the kids to whisper.

Also, bear in mind that invigilators are either hired in (UK) & often older, vulnerable people earning peanuts OR overseas it's often the teachers. The outside invigilators are likely to be harder to hire this year. The teachers are not in whole year group situations at the moment normally for obvious reasons eg no assemblies. Invigilation is a high risk activity.

Last week a member of my Dept was isolating pending a test as he had potential symptoms. If he'd been infected, that's the whole Dept out as we share an office. This would have closed the school as we couldn't all have been covered for two weeks.

If you'd like the actual exams to go ahead (& I reckon that's quite unlikely anyway...) & the kids to be taught in school from now until they sit them, you do NOT want a spike in the numbers of infected/exposed teachers just after Xmas. Or it's Game Over.

So it's masks on & crack on. Any students who have a medical reason not to wear them can be accommodated in separate rooms. Oh, & that means a need for more invigilators, & more exposure of invigilators to potential infection. But it can be accommodated for those students for whom it's a genuine need, if everyone else stops taking the piss & just wears the bloody things.

Billie18 · 13/11/2020 16:19

@Sparklyring

Its absolutely fine, not awful at all. What a dramatic over reaction.
You feeling "absolutely fine" about something has nothing whatsoever to do with someone else's feelings.
TheSunIsStillShining · 13/11/2020 16:20

@Mintjulia

Make sure you provide comfortable Thin cotton masks that fit well, and it should be fine.

I've got to the point I don't notice mine.

Why? Do you realise what you are saying?
Sparklyring · 13/11/2020 17:41

@Billie18 I absolutely agree but the OP said "Is it just me that thinks this will be absolutely awful for them??". That's a ridiculous thing to say because the majority of them will be fine, probably including the OPs daughter as she hasnt given any reason why she wouldn't be ok. Shes heard they've got to wear masks and generalised that it will be "awful". I wear one all day every day at work, as do 45 of my colleagues without issue, a group of teenagers can cope for 3 hours.

Lozz22 · 13/11/2020 18:02

Hang on a second whilst I go dig my violin out to play a little tune of sympathy for all the snowflakes. To the poster who said masks aren't effective and don't stop you from catching it. No they don't but they lessen the chances of you spreading it if you have it

Popfan · 13/11/2020 18:05

I think it is awful. I'm sure lots of people wear one for their jobs and in lots of countries kids wear one and are ok. However it is still awful. Awful we are in this situation and it's rubbish they need to be worn. Those posters calling teenagers 'snowflakes' for finding them uncomfortable etc are being unnecessarily mean. Of course it's better they wear them than not go to school but to pretend masks are marvellous and not pretty crap to have to wear through a 3 hour exam is ridiculous!

TheStripes · 13/11/2020 18:07

It’s not nice for them but it’s hardly absolutely awful.

MooseBreath · 13/11/2020 18:10

In other countries, masks are required for all children at school, regardless of age. 15-year-olds can handle it.

Popfan · 13/11/2020 18:17

They may be able to handle it but it's still rubbish they have to!

kittykat35 · 13/11/2020 18:22

There's a lot of AWFUL things happening in this world right now
-child trafficking
-FGM
-civil wars
Etc etc etc.... a 15 yr old having to WEAR a fucking mask for a few hours is NOT awful!! Some people need to get a bloody grip!!

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