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Secondary education

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

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Original poster

GCSE English fiasco

11 replies

cheeseslovesme · 12/03/2013 14:28

DD came back from school yesterday to say they have to retake her gcse english . Her teacher told the class that their exam papers had been sent off but have gone missing. Both my DD and her class are really upset and angry. She has studied really hard for it. Has anyone else had this happen to their child ? They have now been told they have to sit another paper now and revise a different paper [Angry]

OP posts:

Amphitrite · 12/03/2013 15:04

I would phone the school requesting a written explanation of what has happened. A verbal message via the DC is not good enough. Whether the fault lies with the exam board or the school, they should be explaining what happened, what the solution is, and what extra support they are going to put in place (afterschool catch up sessions etc) to help the class get through their extra exam. Do you know what exam it was and which exam board was involved?

BrigitBigKnickers · 12/03/2013 18:47

One would assume they have a proof of posting for these exam papers?

Pretty unbelievable- I hope they raise a merry stink- I would be incandescent with rage.

IAmLouisWalsh · 12/03/2013 21:10

Eh?

Exam papers are almost always sent via Parcelforce to a central point as most are scanned and marked online. When they didn't arrive I would have expected the board to contact the school to find out where they were.

Which board and which specific English? Eg English or Eng Lang?

thegreylady · 12/03/2013 21:51

I was an examiner for over 30 years.
Schools are sent Parcelforce packets and labels with an identifying manifest to send the scripts to the board for scanning.It is difficult to see what has happened-is the school attempting a cover up of some sort?

TheFallenMadonna · 12/03/2013 21:52

Exam, or controlled assessment?

ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged · 12/03/2013 21:58

Agree with the others. This makes no sense at all. Phone the school tomorrow morning and request more information.

LizzieVereker · 12/03/2013 22:02

Yes, this sounds very strange. If it is the exam papers the board would have queried it when they didn't arrive. You definitely need to get to the bottom of it - my bet is that it's a controlled assessment (which also should never be lost!)

Ganetgob · 12/03/2013 22:14

I can't be certain, but this sounds like something that has happened at my school.

Depending on whether she is yr 10 or 11, I assume your DD took her exam either in June (of yr 10) or in nov/jan (of yr 11). Pupils can often be reluctant to do an exam again if they got what they consider to be 'good enough' (often a C). Therefore they may told a story about the exam board making some mistake which means they all have to resit the paper (and they will therefore take it more seriously).

The new paper may just be an additional English literature paper the higher sets tend to do alongside the normal English paper.

I can't be certain obviously, but this is the only thing I can think of!

Amphitrite · 13/03/2013 00:16

Pupils can often be reluctant to do an exam again if they got what they consider to be 'good enough' (often a C). Therefore they may told a story about the exam board making some mistake which means they all have to resit the paper (and they will therefore take it more seriously).

No. Just no. That is seriously unethical and no reputable school would do it.

Ganetgob · 13/03/2013 07:49

I agree, but I'm just a lowly teacher, I have no say in what the head, deputies and head of English do or say.

I'm not saying its right, just saying it happens. I'm not at that school anymore. It was horrible but I was a newly qualified and didn't know any better!

Roisin · 13/03/2013 07:59

This certainly all sounds very strange and I think a phonecall to the school is definitely in order.

Could it be, OP, that your dd has misunderstood the message? The exam boards have not released the GRADES (or grade boundaries) for the English exam sat in January; therefore schools/teachers/parents/pupils cannot be sure what grade has been achieved. .... And given the Boards' willingness to shift boundaries around by huge amounts, the only safe option is to get all students to re-sit.

Imagine if - as a teacher - you told a student they didn't need to re-sit, because you were confident their exam grade (plus controlled assessments etc.) would amount to a solid C grade; then the exam boards shifted the goalposts (as they did last year) and they ended up with a D.

There's a whole thread about not issuing grades this time here.

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