Why Won't Sixth Form Permit Private Candidates?

[janeeire244]

My DS is re-taking his A-level examinations this year. He does not want to retake the year at school rather preferring to study at home and then take his exams at school in the summer. The reason why he is re-taking his exams is because he underperformed due to medical issues.

However, his sixth form has stated that they do not accept private candidates (which is what he would be). This is confusing because we have offered to pay for his entrance fees and because as a private candidate he would not negatively impact their statistics. Also, they certainly have enough space as the exam hall is apparently never full.

What I find most confusing is the fact that the school would have been willing to allow him to redo Year 13 at the school (going to lessons) if he wanted to but he does not want to (as mentioned). So, if they were willing to allow him to retake the year and usually have a couple of people retaking Year 13 annually, why exactly do you think they are opposed to accepting a private candidate?

Of course it is their choice to do as they please but I am curious as to what could be the possible motive behind their decisions.

Also, when we wrote a letter to the school detailing all of this we mentioned that he would be a 'private candidate'. I'm not sure if this was a mistake because perhaps we could have used the phrase 'external candidate' instead. Is there any difference between them? Maybe the school do not allow private candidates but accept external candidates.

Perhaps because it's additional work for the school's exams officer that they don't want to take on. Even if you pay for their time as well as their resources, they might not want to take it on. And of course, if they accept one private candidate then they may be asked to take on more.

What subjects? Some subjects, such as languages, will require teacher participation, or sciences will require lab work in the exams.

There's no difference between a private candidate and an "external" candidate.

We don't take private candidates because it's more work for the exams office.

Self -revising is not likely to improve his scores, regardless of the reason for the under-performance. Repeating a year will be far more fruitful and enable him to achieve what he is capable of. You/he need to reconsider and quickly.

And if you're the poster who has repeatedly started similar posts, you're fixating on the wrong thing totally. Please seek some real life support from an adult you trust who understands you and what is the best educational route.

You are aware that he wouldn't have to sit this at school yes? He could just take it at a test centre, or even phone round other schools. So this shouldn't be a big issue.

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Economics, History and Maths.

He already has full marks in his History coursework (which makes up 20% of the overall grade) and he can just transfer that to this year's exam so there is a strong chance that he can perform well and none of his subjects require extra examining like other forms of coursework or languages may.

I agree with the sentiment but this same school has said that they are willing to help DS with an academic reference and to process his application on UCAS through their centre by giving their buzzword so if they are willing to do that, would there much of a difference in also allowing him to sit exams?

Yes - for a start, totally different people do those jobs

I work in the exams team of a large sixth form. Whilst we DO accept former students as external candidates I can completely see why some colleges won't. It's an additional burden at an extremely busy time for us. Our externals, as they are not enrolled with us, are considered visitors to the college and as such could be a safeguarding risk. They have to be signed in as a visitor, escorted to the exam hall, and collected when they finish. Doesn't sound much but I can assure you that on a busy day it is added pressure that we don't need and diverts resources from our own students. If those students also have access arrangements (solo or small group invigilation for example) this may also create additional cost, draw on resources which we are not funded to cover. Some centres wouldn't even let them in the main hall (safeguarding again) and they would have to sit their exams in a separate room.

As stated above there are test centres for this very purpose. If the school/college isn't willing then they are your option.

There's another poster wanting to do exactly this, and is being advised that doing A-levels on their own is hard, but also to be aware that many places won't look at retakes either.

DD was in a similar position and we booked her exams through a private company. The exam centre was 60 miles away so for the morning exams to avoid any traffic problems etc we stayed at a hotel local to the centre. I found a local park where I could park up and wait (I lost 3 pounds weight due to doing circuits of the park!).
It was an awkward and expensive few weeks but we got through it.