Urgent Physics ISA question for Science teachers

[SchoolQueries]

My Yr11 son is doing his AQA Physics exams. He did his ISA earlier this year (Jan I think), he did not do particulary well (B rather than predicted A*) but was not too bothered as he was told he would have a 2nd chance to do another ISA.
However his teacher went off sick and whenever he asked about redoing the ISA he was told the school would fit it in sometime, then finally on Friday they said it was too late and they had sent his original mark off. This one poor
result is going to pull his final mark down.

We are putting in a complaint to the school, but what I'm trying to find out is, are students entitled to take the ISA twice, or is it just something that some schools do. I know that all the students at two local schools have done 2 isa's as have all the students at my sons school who are taking the combined science rather than 3 individual isa's.

In my DD's school the majority did quite badly on an ISA (I think in Chemistry) although my DD did fine. The whole lot then did another one to try and improve the marks. As far as I recall they only did one for each of the other sciences but they had a practice one beforehand. I don't think it is a "right" as such or even normal practice, but is a bit like resitting a controlled assessment if something goes horribly wrong.

I think you are right to complain as the teacher's absence has been mismanaged but I don't think there is anything you can do to retake the ISA.

Thanks beingfluffy - thats what I was worried about, that it's not a right, but it does seem to be normal practice around here.

Bumping for the night time crowd - hopefully some Science teachers.

It's not a right. A lot of schools do schedule 2 ISAs per subject though as it usually boosts their grades a fair bit if they do. Some schools cheat at ISAs quite badly (allegedly letting students see papers or mark schemes or teaching the exact questions in advance) and this means it's quite difficult to achieve high marks if the school is playing fair especially with only one chance.

It's too late to do anything about it, the marks have already been submitted, and the samples for moderation requested.
We have a policy of 3 isa's per subject (will change to 2 CAU's for next year) in order to maximise students chances, although it means a lot more marking for the staff, but tbh the parity of marks acheived by students across the 3 goes is incredible. Students either tend to do well in isas, or more poorly and it seems very hard to boost the marks of those who perform poorly (without bending the rules anyway).
There is no "right" about it, it will be down to the schools own policy, if it has one!

I don't know about AQA - my DS who did this did it a long time ago and he never gave me any indication of his module results.

However, if the exam board provides more than one paper per academic year, the the students can do all and their highest mark is submitted. The exam board does not know how the individual school is handling coursework. They only stipulate that they can't do the same experiment/paper again.

It sounds like the school only planned one ISA for the class, which will be in line with many other schools. A second one is a bonus, tbh.

The marks have to be with the exam board by 15th May, having been marked and internally moderated. If the teacher planned the second ISA for early summer term but the teacher was sick during this critical time, then that is bad luck. The teacher may have chosen these timings for excellent reasons, and may not have been simply incompetent or unfair.

I don't think AQA would entertain any kind of appeal given that he has a mark for that module. It is really your DS's fault for mucking up first time and he should take it on the chin. By intervening, you are sending the message to him that his best is not good enough.