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Secondary education

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Original poster

MISSING A GCSE DUE TO CHANGE OF FLIGHT TIME-HELP???

89 replies

milkybarsrus · 02/06/2012 08:41

Please could someone give me some advice (preferably a teacher) re my dilema. We are going on holiday to Turkey this Sunday for 1 week and should have been returning Sunday 10th June in the evening, but the flight times have changed and we will now leave turkey at midnight (theretime) and land in gatwick about 3am!!!! My year 10 child has a RS gcse exam Monday morning which he has to be in school at 8.30am the latest for. What can / should we do? Someone suggested doing a sicky and getting a doctors note that day, but Im not sure whether to do that or just come clean and tell the school whats happened and see if he can sit it another time, any suggestions?

OP posts:
SophiaMurdoch · 02/06/2012 09:01

I don't think exams could be taken later with a note, as they have to be sent off soon after they're done.Would your child be able to retake RS in year 11 with teachinfg time allocated for it? Have they revised already for it? It may be possible to go but be left with a tired child- make sure they sleep enough the previous day.

BeingFluffy · 02/06/2012 09:01

I am not a teacher BUT I would have thought your best bet would be to ring the school on the Monday morning and say your flight was delayed unexpectedly, DC is too tired to sit the exam etc. I doubt a school would be sympathetic to holiday arrangements; as it is fairly common for holiday flights to be changed unexpectedly and they would have expectd you to bear that in mind when you booked. Is there no possibility of you changing the flight back?

I think feigning sickness to the doctor and get them to write a note is playing with fire tbh. I know of a case at my DD's school where a girl missed an exam. They let her take it in the autumn. It was different circumstances, she got mixed up with the timetable and couldn't get there on time, but it was obviously genuine so they were sympathetic.

enjolraslove · 02/06/2012 09:12

If it is a public exam then it has to be sat at the right time. You can choose either get there, be tired, but do your best or not show up and it will be recorded as a fail.
I'd give it a go - nothing lost that way.
For special consideration the exam board will need quite high quality medical evidence - I recently applied for this for a child and had letters from a gp, consultant, a and e referral, diagnoses and more- still waiting to hear.

OddBoots · 02/06/2012 09:13

Can you get on to your holiday/flight company and see if you could travel back on the Sat or Fri instead?

BeingFluffy · 02/06/2012 09:18

I think other posters are right that DC should take the exam - tired or not. I wonder if the school will also charge you for the exam entry if your child doesn't attend?

TheFallenMadonna · 02/06/2012 09:18

If it is a modular exam then he can be recorded as absent for this paper and resit it the next time it is offered, which will depend on the specification and board. He may well not be the only n

Don't ask for a medical note. That is completely dishonest.

TheFallenMadonna · 02/06/2012 09:21

If it is a modular exam then he can be recorded as absent for this paper and resit it the next time it is offered, which will depend on the specification and board. He may well not be the only one retaking in the next series, but he will be at a disadvantage because the teaching will of course be geared to the next module. That's assuming that this is a full course GCSE that continues to next year.

Don't ask for a medical note. That is completely dishonest.

IDontDoIroning · 02/06/2012 09:22

You couldnt have been very bothered about it to have booked it in the first place. How much revision will they be doing - and you were running a huge risk coming home the day before the exam even with a Initial better flight time with all the risks of flight delays etc .
I've got a yr 10 and younger dc coming up behind and I've resigned myself to not having a Whitsun break abroad for the next few years.

Theas18 · 02/06/2012 09:40

Just shocked that anyone could think of going away on holiday in the midst of gcses. Ds is "allowing" us all a weekend at the seaside - thurs to Saturday, he feels we need to be back sunday because of the Monday exam and we are prioritising his needs at the moment.

LeeCoakley · 02/06/2012 09:43

You either send him in and hope he's up for it or he will have to sit it when others do their retakes - sometime in year 11.

LeeCoakley · 02/06/2012 09:45

Can I just say though how bloody annoying it is when students have to take GSCEs in Yrs 9 and 10. When you book holidays it's not something that is always on the radar, not like yr 11 upwards when you KNOW these are exam years.

TheFallenMadonna · 02/06/2012 10:00

It is the standard for most students taking GCSE science. Core in year 10, Additional in year 11. So a complete GCSE completed in year 10. We make it clear in our parents' information books, at every parents'evening, and obviously to our students. And yet every year we have people booking holidays that affect the exams.

That is pretty annoying too.

tiggytape · 02/06/2012 10:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

magentadreamer · 02/06/2012 10:21

My DD has had those bloody annoying GCSE exams in yr9 and 10. It was always on my radar and every parent will have recieved the same information as I have. My Dd (yr10) will have sat 9 modules in this June session. It never occured to me to book a holiday at half term due to the fact I knew she had 4 exams after it.

OP - I would ring your DS school up and say your flights were delayed, but expect to have to pay for it - no shows at my DD's school are billed for the exam.

peteneras · 02/06/2012 11:16

I'm sorry but I don't think you're serious about your son's education if truth be known. What, by going off abroad for holiday for 1 week whilst everyone else is burning the midnight oil preparing what could be life shaping exams and now thinking of fooling the exam board with your blunder? Surely you can't be serious . . .

jazzchickensbyroyalappointment · 02/06/2012 11:27

He should sit the exam.

He should try and sleep through the day on the Sunday, on the transfer and on the plane.

He will be tired at school but he will make it. Teenagers often manage on just a few hours sleep.

Enragia · 02/06/2012 11:28

You can't lie. He will have to be tired. Abd you not take holidays in exam time.

rainbowinthesky · 02/06/2012 11:31

I am gobsmacked you booked the holiday in the first place. I speak as a parent of a Y11 and a teacher. I guess people view these things differently so it can't be that important to you as someone else says.

PrettyInDecadence · 02/06/2012 11:32

He'll be disadvantaged anyway by not having had the revision time in the week up to the exam. The chances are there will be students re sitting next year/term so there should be exam preparation before the next time the exam is taken so in that sense it's not the end of the world. I would still make him take it and, if he's properly prepared then a lack of sleep shouldn't effect him. Also if it's a morning exam he's less likely to be effected by tiredness than he would be in an afternoon exam.

Yellowtip · 02/06/2012 12:47

I hope your doctor has more integrity than to falsify a sick note. Sick notes to excuse attendance at a public exam need to be based on fairly strong grounds.

I think you also need to show some moral scruples about being straight with the school. It's a very measly idea to 'throw a sickie' and not a great lesson for your DS to learn.

Agree with all the others: did you really need a week abroad during this particular week? It's not as though it's cheaper at half-term in any event and shows a deep lack of consideration for your DS, his teachers and schooling.

maples · 02/06/2012 12:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mirry2 · 02/06/2012 12:55

He will either have to sit the exam having missed hours of sleep or put him on an earlier plane and get a friend to pick him up from the airport.

The exam can only be a few hours long so he should be able to manage it - lots of students don't sleep well before an exam anyway.

5madthings · 02/06/2012 13:00

why cant he revise on holiday, he can take stuff with him, i did when i went away near my gcse time, it will be no hardship to sit by a pool and study in the sunshine!

he will just have to sleep on the sunday and you have to make it back in time for the exam, do you think you can make it, even if it means driving through the night, he can sleep in the car. he wont be at his best, but others have taken exams in worse condition, i had glandular fever throughout my gcse and ended up with recurrent tonsilitis which meant having to have them taken out whilst doing my a levels, not ideal but i still managed.

ThatVikRinA22 · 02/06/2012 13:02

perhaps the OP booked the holiday over half term precisely because she did not want to interrupt his schooling/exams...

had the flight times not been altered there would have been no problem. It is possible that the holiday was booked in advance of the exam times., if i knew i had booked a break that coincided with a school holiday it wouldnt have occurred to me that it could affect anything in school time.

OP if i were you i would contact the school asap and speak to them and take their advice. Could you son sleep on the plane/in the car/ and then a few hours before he has to take the exam?

if not then i would ask about the possibility of resitting.

if he really cannot resit then he will have to go in for the exam - but i would try to get him to sleep where and when he can and i would pick him up straight after ward and let him get some sleep.

dd is 14 and has had exams from year 9, some in year 10 and the rest next year. it is truly a huge pain in the arse and disruptive and exams just seem never ending, and planning holidays - if we had them - would be a nightmare.

im planning on a blow out holiday after she finishes school next year i think - i had been looking at the same half term as you tbh, but it didnt occur to me that she may have an exam on the day she is due back.....you have probably just helped me from falling into the same trap tbh!

cardibach · 02/06/2012 14:14

Planning holidays around exams is simple, Vicar, not a nightmare at all. They happen in January and in May/June with the odd subject offering November sessions. THey are all in school time. THe only break which falls between them and should be avoided is Whitsun. So only one week of the year.
I don't think revising by a pool works. You need to be in a studying frame of mind and to concentrate. THis holiday would disadvantage him even without the flight time. It was irresponsible to book it and now your DS will have to pay for it. He'll either do it at a disadvantage or miss it. EIther way he'll probably have to resit it when he should be concentrating on other modules.