Son missing exams

[Mikafan]

My 16 yo son who has his GCSE exams this week was admitted to hospital on Sunday night. Long story short it transpires after a CT scan today he has a 2cm lesion on the left of his brain. He's now waiting for a MRI scan which will give us more detail on what we're dealing with. I rang his school first thing this morning to let them know he wouldn't be in and why and they've said that he can't take the exams at a later date and that his grades will be given as what the examination board and his teachers think he'd have got. When I told the doctors at the hospital this today and that it was stressing my son out they said this was rubbish and they know for a fact that kids can take the exams at a later date. Does anyone know for sure what the deal is? Thanks

Hi. Really hope your son is doing ok...the last thing you all need is to be stressing about exams. I am a secondary teacher and as far as I know, there are 2 options. One is to apply for special consideration (on medical grounds...will need the medical profession to write/sign) - then the school will forward info from e.g. his mocks. Did he sit one exam out of two or three for any subject before half-term e.g. English, Maths? If so, then the exam board will give him a grade based on the mocks, average marks over the whole country and the part that he has done. Secondly, depending on what subjects he is doing, he should be able to sit the exams either in November/December 08 or January 09 (depends on the subject and exam board as to when another sitting is) but he will have to wait until then. So, that option would slow the process down. It sounds as if you need to have another conversation with school - ask to speak to the Head of Y11 or the exams officer - they will know exactly what is what for each subject/exam board. Am really sorry it has happened for him - hope it ends up being not at all serious and you can move on.

thats snuffy. Problem is he needs the english and maths to get onto the IT course he wants to do. He had taken 1 maths paper but no other subjects. She did tell me about the special consideration. This worried my son though because although he did well in the maths mock and felt the first paper went well, his mock english was bad and he doesn't want a grade based on that

It isn't just based on mock exam. You have to give an estimate of where you think the pupil is, and the names of the pupils who are directly above and below that estimate. Students often cock up in mock exams. The estimate is based on their level of ability as judged by the classroom teacher. I do sometimes used mock exam if needed, but genrally I make an overall assessment of what grade I think they would have acieved if they were to sit the real thing.

Your poor ds has enough to worry about. I have done loads of special considerations for candidates, and they end up with the grade they would have got anyway (or pretty near) Tell him not to worry, he will be fine with it. Phone the school about the English exam and see what they say. He will have completed some coursework in English, and that is all part of the consideration as well.

It is really nothing for him to worry about.

I think, but am not sure, he could resit the exams in November, or the next summer if nothing has changed. But the books they study change in English, so I think that would have to be done in November.

Your poor ds, hope he is OK, if he was one of my students, I would really like to tell him not to worry about it

You can't, as far as I know, take them after the set date, until the next set of exam dates, which will be later in the year.

as snuffy says if you want, with the obvious extenuating circumstances that you son has, get the exam boards to give him the grade that he is projected to get....without having to sit the remaining exams

and as fizz says, it isn't just based on the mock, but all of the work that he has done.

Please tell him not to stress about this, as Fizz says, if he were one of my students I would say to put the exams right out of his mind

You can't, as far as I know, take them after the set date, until the next set of exam dates, which will be later in the year.

as snuffy says if you want, with the obvious extenuating circumstances that you son has, get the exam boards to give him the grade that he is projected to get....without having to sit the remaining exams

and as fizz says, it isn't just based on the mock, but all of the work that he has done.

Please tell him not to stress about this, as Fizz says, if he were one of my students I would say to put the exams right out of his mind

I can't leave this thread alone..

He really has nothing to worry about apart from concentrating on getting better. I cannot stress this enough. What are his school doing giving you such a vague idea about things. Special consideration happens all the time. It may seem unusual to you or him, but a fair amount of it happens in school. It is designed to prtotect students in a difficult situation, and is not a thing to be anxious or worried about

Speak to the HoY at length. Speak to the exams officer, and even phone up the exam board if you want.

I hope he feels better, he will end up with what he should have got. I can almost gaurantee it...........

I can do special considerations, but can't spell guarantee as you can tell

I can only agree with Martian and Fizz - special considerations happen constantly - even if pupil is a bit ill on the day but still sits the exam. One of my pupils had a grumbling appendix and that was taken as special consideration. Let alone being in hospital with all the medical stress.

I too cannot really believe how unhelpful his school were - they should be reassuring you that you need to forget it and concentrate on your son. They should be putting all the procedures in place to ensure he gets grades. And coursework will definitely be part of the consideration in English.

I can only suggest another go at exams officer/head of year and then forget it! I really hope it all works out.

Also, one of the reasons they have mocks, is to cock them up .

If he has had this problem for a bit, that needs to be taken into consideration as well, as that will have affected is past performance.

This could work in his favour

Might be worth contacting the people he will be doing the IT course with & explaining the situation & see what they say, espeically as his school are being so unhelpful. You might find they will be fine if he doesn't have the exact grades, especially under the circumstances. Maybe they would be happy with him retaking some GCES alongside his IT course next year?

Also depending on how your son is whilst waiting for the scan can the school not arrange for him to sit the exam at the hospital, possibly with a scribe.

He can sit the exams at home if needed, but I still think he would need special consideration due to his emotional state

Thanks everyone for the responses.

The teacher on the paediatric ward he's on has been very helpful and has also contacted his school. He now appears happy that his predicted grades will be used as they were at C level.

He definately can't sit them now even if they let him. He literally can't think with enough cohesiveness.

He had an MRI scan done yesterday afternoon and we were promised the results would be back by 10 today - they weren't. We finally had a doctor come back to us at 3.45 this afternoon to tell us nothing conclusive was shown on the scan other than there are 2 abnormal areas on his brain but they don't know the cause. He now has to wait and see a neurologist tomorrow something

The teacher on the ward also suggested my ring the colleges and let them know whats happening and she thinks they'll be sympathetic towards the situation. Fingers crossed everyone

Hi Mikafan

How are you and your ds?

I was wondering this