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Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Secondary education

gcse examinations and holidays.

58 replies

stacielise · 01/02/2011 18:24

wondering if anyone can help me.
myself and my partner booked a holiday back in october for ourselves my 6 year old daughter and his 16 year old son. the problem we are facing is GCSE's

we go on the 20th May school breaks up on 27th but im unsure if there is any exams on those dates. still waiting for the school to get back to us.

is it possible for children to sit there exam at a later date. or will he now not be able to go on the holiday?

hope someone can help me with this. i know logically we shouldnt of booked the holiday without checking. jus didnt realise at the time. x

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princessparty · 04/02/2011 11:10

You can't possibly take him out a week before his exams start!!

mumeeee · 04/02/2011 11:04

He won't be able to sit the exams at another time. GCSE exams usually start early may and go on until end of June. I think you will ned to rearrange your holiday.

empirestateofmind · 04/02/2011 02:25

Wow- some students have a lot to contend with. Sounds to me like a lack of communication with lots of thoughtlessness here OP.

Getting back to the holiday though- if the holiday is for you, your young daughter and parents it doesn't sound much fun for a 16 year old.

Plus your family can't be close to the boy and his father if they didn't think about the exams.

Hence my thoughts are do your own holiday and let your OH and son do their own thing in August.

crazymum53 · 03/02/2011 11:05

It's not just GCSEs that are affected by May holidays. My dds primary school does not authorise any holidays in May as this is the time of year they do SATs assessments. If your dd is in Y1 then you may be OK but if she is Y2 this will be a problem.

scaryteacher · 03/02/2011 10:03

Oh, and for some exams he will have to wait another year before he can take them again, thus potentially putting back his Army application.

scaryteacher · 03/02/2011 10:02

If you google June 2011 GCSE exam dates you will find timetables for each board and when the GCSEs are. These were published in July 10 I think, so the information has been there for some time.

If he wants to go into the Army, then he needs to get the GCSEs now. He also needs to be looking at alternative careers as there are going to be redundancies in all three services starting this year, and the Army will be hard hit, especially after 2015 when we leave Afghanistan, as there will be the potential to lose more personnel from then.

He could also see not going on the holiday as training for Forces life, as if you are deployed, you are deployed, no matter what is going on in your personal life.

He needs to do his GCSEs,end of, and I can't see any way around your situation other than cancelling, or going without him. He will miss valuable revision time, and some youngsters, especially the lads, put in more work just prior to the exams than they do in the rest of Year 11. Don't let this screw his chances.

stacielise · 02/02/2011 23:31

im not too sure what he is sitting to be hinest. ill ask his dad to find out. save me worrying till the end of feb.

the main thing the head of year said was something along lines of there is 4 sittings for science and they dont know which one they will sit????? dunno how true that is. x

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jetgirl · 02/02/2011 21:59

If you know which boards his exams are with, you shpuld find all the dates online, they are published already. I have given my students their dates, even though my school hasn't published the exam timetable yet.

stacielise · 02/02/2011 21:50

quick update.

he is involved with some sort of scheme where he goes to college 3 days of the week, and his head of year believes he may finish all of his gcse's before the may 20th. wont find out for sure till the end of the month but at least we are getting somewhere.

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stacielise · 01/02/2011 23:08

Definitely. though i think ill definitely be more aware of the situation than his parents have been!

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ajandjjmum · 01/02/2011 23:03

Hope it works out - at least you'll remember to look before booking when dd is 16 .

stacielise · 01/02/2011 23:02

because of it being with my DD's grandparents. they can only get when its already booked for. thats the problem.

up to now my only option is hope that he only has one exam left after the hol. and he will be able to revise for it in holiday. and after. fingers crossed! x

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ajandjjmum · 01/02/2011 22:56

I know that you want this holiday with everyone. Why could it not be delayed until say late June/early July, so you'd still miss the main holiday rush, but not collide with GCSE period?

stacielise · 01/02/2011 22:51

Because you're trying to do the right thing, even if you've left it late!

i know. silly really. but least i didnt leave it way too late! lol. im trying, and seem to be failing,........miserably.

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ilovesooty · 01/02/2011 22:49

There isn't any way round it that I can see other than the lad not going on this holiday.The time frame covers exams and vital revision time and it's not a time for distractions. Also as other posters have said the school has the right to send a bill for any exams he doesn't attend. I can't understand why one of his parents wasn't caring enough to check this out/put a stop to these unsuitable dates before the holiday was booked.

ajandjjmum · 01/02/2011 22:48

Because you're trying to do the right thing, even if you've left it late!

stacielise · 01/02/2011 22:45

id prefer not to get started on her thats a whole other story!!! seriously.

she hasnt said anything about him going away at this time, and to be honest she doesnt really seem bothered. Hence why i am!

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ajandjjmum · 01/02/2011 22:37

How does his mother feel about him going away at this time?

stacielise · 01/02/2011 22:35

ohhhh trust me he knows hes a right plank at the minute, he's had a good talking to the last few days, he works all over the country so its left to me to sort.

elliot i am listening to the advice, but i dont believe its the be all and end all. im trying because i dont believe its fair to allow him to believe he is going on a holiday then suddenly say. oh sorry u cant. im not the evil stepmother!!!

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MaureenMLove · 01/02/2011 22:31

It's not actually down to OP to know when the GCSE's are though, is it? She doesn't live with OH or the son, so it's really not up to her to have to think about that, is it? Why would she have thought about a lad that she doesn't live with, when she is still wrapped up in the world of primary school?

She is doing her best to sort it out.

OP your OH is a plonker for not thinking things through, but that's men for you!

elliott · 01/02/2011 22:30

People have told you what your options are but you seem to be refusing to accept them.
He cannot go on holiday when his exams are. Therefore, either you change the date so that you can all go at another time, or if that is impossible as you claim, he will just have to stay home. (does he have a mother?)

stacielise · 01/02/2011 22:28

How about them joining you in half term week? (Armed with revision)

that is the exact option i currently have. because we come back on 3rd of june. so far we think he may have 1 more exam after that. he should of completed the major ones maths english science before the holiday.

school are phoning tomorrow with his exact exam timetable so we are in a better position to decide what to do. Im hoping for all of us we can sort it. for my Oh's son so he doesnt lose out completely and my DD so she still has the hol with her family.

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BecauseImWorthIt · 01/02/2011 22:27

I don't understand why you booked the holiday when you did.

You say that you're young, so it's not that long since you did your own GCSEs. So you would have known that they take place in May/June.

There might not be exams on the dates that you have chosen - they may even be on holiday then (as it is the Whitsun weekend), but surely you would have realised that he would be in the middle of his revision?

It really does sound as if you will have to go with your daughter and the rest of your family but leave OH and his son behind.

Unless, as hocuspontas says, you take him away with loads of revision. But that puts an awful lot of pressure on the boy to make sure he's working, and not just lazing around as you would normally expect to do when you're on holiday.

ajandjjmum · 01/02/2011 22:23

I am sure you didn't book the holiday to ruin his GCSE's.

But the facts are that he will be taking them when you have holiday booked.

Good luck in finding a solution that works for all of you.

hocuspontas · 01/02/2011 22:22

How about them joining you in half term week? (Armed with revision)

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