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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:
Kez100 · 02/06/2012 14:50

If you can get him there - do so. He'll be tired, but so was my daughter in her frist exam - because she was so worried about it she didn't sleep!

Original poster
milkybarsrus · 02/06/2012 14:51

To all the high and mighty out there who presume to know me and my family - if you read the post - you have assumed that I have little or no appreciation of my childrens education -WRONG -all of my children attend very good grammar schools which they worked hard to get into and have always worked hard with their lessons and tests. I booked the holiday last year and at the time I did not know he would be sitting a 1 hour test the next day. I did not book it and think ' I dont give a damn about my kids education, lets all go on holiday during school time'. Please remember, this was booked during a half term, NOT TERM TIME and we should have landed back in Gatwick on the Sunday. If you feel you need to glue your children to a desk then that is your opinion of what is right for your child, personally speaking , my children are not put under such pressure, and no wonder kids feel almost suicidal with parents that inflict such an unbalanced view of education! Yes it is extremely important, but it is not the b all and end all of life. I did also say in my opening post that someone had suggested doing a sicky which I was not happy to do, I simply was unsure how to approach this problem. Very rarely do I find such up yourself group of people as are some of the replies on this mumsnet post. Judgemental, but some posts very unhelpful. As for me, I will continue to take my children on holiday during the school holidays as that is what they are intended for. Revision can be done wherever they are as they have pc's and books, which believe it or not can be used whilst abroad!

OP posts:
cardibach · 02/06/2012 14:56

THing is, milkybarsrus, it's the half term holiday which falls in the exam period. If your DD is in Y10 then it was fairly obvious he'd have some exams and being away just before them isn't that great an idea. It isn't just a 'test' either - you are trying to play it down. It's an external examination and matters.

You sound a bit judgy of parents 'glueing' their DCs to desks and suggesting they are unbalanced, when all they are doing is pointing out that there is only one school holiday week in the year which could affect exams and that they would like their DCs to have the opportunity to work and not attend an exam tired.

cardibach · 02/06/2012 14:57

DS sorry

Original poster
milkybarsrus · 02/06/2012 15:00

would also like to add a thank you to those of you have helped me come to my decision (I don't mean the dictators out there), he will sit the exam, though tired, he will still do well as he is an A* student.

OP posts:
IDontDoIroning · 02/06/2012 15:07

My ds is an a* student too ...I struggle to encourage him to revise and going on holiday in the most important school holiday week of all would not send him the message that I encourage his studies. So we are staying at home. He's not going to be glued to his desk but he will be doing some revision.
You know your child as I know mine and a holiday this week is a choice I would never have made. But there you are.

BringBack1996 · 02/06/2012 15:08

Trying not to be snappy but you are being very defensive. If he is an A* student why are you worried? Also, as a pp has said, is there a chance that some others sitting the exam won't do so well? If it's a grammar they will probably be pretty hot on re-sits so if he doesn't do too well he won't be the only one so teachers will be available to offer help for a second sitting.
The other thing to point out is that kids are a lot more resilient that we think and for a variety of reasons your DS won't be the only one sitting the exam after a couple of hours sleep!

TBH the whole early entry thing baffles me and if he has to re-do it I wouldn't be in the least worried as he's likely to do so much better with an extra years maturity.

5madthings · 02/06/2012 15:10

going on holiday doesnt necessarily mean you will be too tired for an exam anyway! its a pain that the flight has been changed, you had arranged it so it would be fine. and this yr the half term is at a different time due to jubilee etc, its normally the last week of may, its only the diff bank holidays etc that mean it has been changed (for many schools) another reason why perhaps the op didnt realise that her ds may have an exam the day after they returned.

good luck to your ds Milky :)

Enragia · 02/06/2012 15:11

i loathe the phrase "A* student"
its liek we are all in an episode of Friends

IDontDoIroning · 02/06/2012 15:12

Oh and he told us this time last year when ihe was in yr 9 that there were Gcse's before and after this half term. Also we had tje timetable months ago too so it's not like it's some top secret fact that you only find out about a week or so before,

HermioneE · 02/06/2012 15:13

Surprised that whoever you have your holiday booked with can force this on you. Can you not complain to them and explain that the revised time will not work for you, and you need to get an earlier flight. They probably assume that customers would prefer to have a bit of extra holiday rather than a bit less if times need to be changed, whereas in your case it's the other way around.

ArielThePiraticalMermaid · 02/06/2012 15:18

As an aside, wasn't life simpler when we all did our GCSEs and O Levels in the Fifth Year?

whathaveiforgottentoday · 02/06/2012 15:21

I would send in your DC to do the exam and if they are very tired perhaps the school will allow them to come home afterwards. I have known this to be allowed when kids have come in ill with minor illnesses such as colds and then go home after the exam. He may do fine, I got through most of my exams on little sleep due to late night panic revision. Coffee and pro plus tablets red bull helped but perhaps not appropriate for a year 10 child.

mirry2 · 02/06/2012 15:27

Ariel when did GCSEs stop being done in the fifth year? Couldn't be more than 5 years ago.

Pluto · 02/06/2012 15:28

Your DS should take the exam - he will be tired but that's too bad really isn't it. I hope he remembers to pack his notes with him to revise in Turkey. If the RS exam is like the one we do at our school he will already have sat paper one before the hols - he might as well finish it and hope he scored well on the first paper. I expect the adrenalin of exam nerves should keep him awake anyway.

ArielThePiraticalMermaid · 02/06/2012 15:32

I've no idea, Mirry!

The other sad thing was that the lower sixth used to be a fun year before the real hard work started and now students have exams all the way through. So unfair :(

OP, I think you should cancel your holiday really. You can go on holiday later in the summer maybe.

Ragwort · 02/06/2012 15:33

Just get him there in time, loads of students have late nights due to parties revising all night etc. If its only an hour's exam and he is an A* pupil I don't know why you are even worried about it Hmm.

malinois · 02/06/2012 15:34

Why don't you just book him on a one-way cheap flight back from Turkey a day early? Does he have a friend or relative he can stay with when he gets back?

IloveJudgeJudy · 02/06/2012 15:38

OP, if as you say, all your DC are in grammar schools then I'm amazed that you booked a half-term holiday coming back on the Sunday. You can't be that intelligent if you didn't realise that holiday companies quite often change the times. You must have known that this time of year is exam time. It really is common knowledge. I'm also resigned to the fact that we can't take our holiday later in August when it's cheaper for the next at least 6 years, having already had a year of it, last year, as DC will be taking exams - GCSE, AS and A levels.

Your DC will just have to go to school. Of course, your DC is an A* student (what MN DC apart from mine, aren't!) so will do fine.

ravenAK · 02/06/2012 15:38

What would happen at the school where I teach would be:

  1. Ds presents himself, yawning, suntanned & unprepared - he sits the paper, probably gets an under-par result, & ds/his teacher/you discuss whether to re-enter him. Depends how important it is to him I suppose.

  2. Ds doesn't turn up - he gets a U, you get billed for the exam fee.

I have to say, this is a risk you take if you really must book holidays in the exam period, & I wouldn't be doing it. Still, you can regard it as a 'learning curve' for year 11 - you now hopefully know that no, public exams don't re-arrange themselves around your leisure time, & no, you can't get a 'sick note' for a public exam.

Well, you can in theory be allowed extra consideration if you get run over/contract plague on your way there, & the fee waived if you don't attend as a result & have to re-sit, but you definitely can't swan in saying 'sorry, I was poorly, can I have a crack at it another time'!

glaurung · 02/06/2012 15:48

2 years ago I went away for a family wedding with dd for a weekend. ds had exams so although we were coming home on the Sunday I didn't take him, though I almost did. I arrived at the airport to find the return flight was cancelled and we were put up in a hotel for 24hrs and got home a day late. Ds would have missed 2 GCSEs if he'd been with us (morning and afternoon exam on the Monday) - so glad he wasn't.

I don't think holidays in exam times are a bad idea apart from travel uncertainties though. If children take some books with them there are often fewer distractions on holiday than at home. Mine certainly work better away from their computers, but don't ever rely on flights to get you anywhere at a set time!

friendlymum67 · 02/06/2012 15:50

I'm an invigilator and we have students turn up late for exams all the time! Also depending on the exam board, there is lee-way for a later start of up to an hour. It may be worth talking to the school to see if they could help with a later start. I know it won't be much, but may be better than nothing.

ravenAK · 02/06/2012 15:53

Holidays in the UK in exam season: yes, good idea, take notes & laptop & get away from eg. friends creating distractions. Being abroad & at the mercy of holiday company playing silly buggers with flights = not so sensible...

Magneto · 02/06/2012 16:03

Personally, and I appreciate this may be controversial, buts it's only RE. If it's a year 10 exam then is it a short course GCSE too? It's not worth the worry.

I doubt even if he wanted to become a priest that they would say "Sorry, we only accept people who got an A in RE into priest school" Grin

Bunbaker · 02/06/2012 16:04

"Surprised that whoever you have your holiday booked with can force this on you. Can you not complain to them and explain that the revised time will not work for you, and you need to get an earlier flight."

Holiday companies do this all the time. Unfortunately they won't be bothered by one family's angst at a later flight time.

I must admit that I would consider a return flight on a Sunday a bit of a dangerous gamble and wouldn't have considered it myself, but I am a cautious bod.