son had his mobile phone in GCSE biology

[Applecheeks]

Three minutes before the end of my sons Biology paper today his mobile phone rang. It was in his pocket. He forgot he had it despite usual prompt at the beginning to hand any mobiles in. He didn't answer it, Invigilator took it off him. He was then interviewed after asked had he intended to cheat etc. My son is chaotic and disorganised. The school rang me to inform and explain that they would submit an incident report. My son is in pieces , angry at himself. I am hoping someone may have had experience. I have read the guidelines on the website of the exam board. This suggests he will receive a penalty of either a warning, lose of points on a unit or the paper, disqualification of this GCSE or ultimately of all he has taken under this board. That would be five GCSEs. I'm so angry with him but that's not helping so trying to stay calm. Clearly it's a breach of the rules but the website doesn't help me work out which penalty is likely as it is judged case by case

[EvilTwins]

And then, Beaufort, you would have, quite rightly, lost your job. It is not up to individual invigilators to interpret the rules. If you'd taken his phone and given him a bollocking you would have been behaving in a seriously unprofessional way, and would have been in breach of contract. FFS.

[Floggingmolly]

It's against the rules, which will have been drummed into the students. Why must the exam board understand that accidents happen, Winterbaby??
It didn't happen to anyone else...
Being disorganised is no excuse for taking a switched on mobile into a GCSE exam hall.

[noblegiraffe]

No, students being disturbed by a mobile phone ringing in an exam are not eligible for special consideration.

[Iggi999]

Beaufort, 11 years ago phones didn't have many of the capabilities they do today!
A student once told me all the ways they try to cheat in exams, it was very enlightening. And scary.
I hope they don't come down too hard on your son OP, as his intention was not to cheat (obviously the examiners don't know that).

[BeaufortBelle]

Nope. I did it on more than one occasion and Exams manager was grateful. I had work coming out of my ears because I dealt with the students (inner London demographic) extremely well and managed some very difficult situations, including fire bells going off because students did that where I was working during exams.

When I took professional exams about six/seven years ago a mobile phone went off at the front. The biggest disturbance was caused by the invigilator making a disproportionate fuss and yelling whose rucksack was it, storming up and down between rows of desks.

I made a complaint about that! It would have been better if the twit had just let it ring - well she did and created 5 minutes of chaos. That's what jobs should be lost over.

If I'd lost my job it really wouldn't have mattered. It was about £8.50 an hour and as a mature, educated woman I managed it as best I could with as much common sense as I could and funnily enough it seemed to have been appreciated.

[mumsneedwine]

As this happened so late in exam I think the other students are at minimal disadvantage. However, it will be part of the investigation,and if found to have affected them, consideration will be given. Kids winge a lot about having to remove all labels from water bottles, but as has been said, the ways to cheat are very inventive. Last year one of my year 9s wrote her revision notes on her thigh, high up,thinking no one would notice. I did and she was thrown out of class. Phones are such a big no no that I wish we could have detectors. There's always one that goes off- thankfully we take them all in (in named plastic wallets) and they are removed from exam room, so don't disturb anyone. And who usually texts ? Mum !!!! Don't !!!!

[LeBearPolar]

Having seen the lengths invigilators go to to avoid this - the notices, the announcements, the reminders - it's beyond belief that any student could sit through that and STILL not only have their phone with them but have it switched on.

[EvilTwins]

If I'd been a teacher at that school I woukd have reported you. The job of the invigilator is to apply the rules set out by the exam boards consistently, not to decide which rules should apply and which should not, according to your own ideas of common sense.

[mumsneedwine]

Oh and Beaufort Belle, it might have been appreciated, but it could have lost the school the right to sit any further exams for any of its pupils. The rules are rigid. No flexibility allowed.

[BeaufortBelle]

I don't think anything is beyond naïve teenage boys. I would hope that people who work in schools can tell the difference between out and out trouble makers and boys who are disorganised and naïve. The people who work there have, after all, spent five years getting to know them and so love to tell parents they know best.

[mrsdavidbowie]

Will he learn his lesson?

[EvilTwins]

Beaufort - I am incredibly fond of my students - particularly my yr 11s. That does not mean I would break the rules, encourage anyone else to break the rules, enable rule breaking or look the other way.

Rules are there for a reason. No invigilator has the right to decide to whom they apply.

[LeBearPolar]

Those of us who work in schools do know our kids well. We are also not arrogant enough to assume that we are above the law. If we were found to be failing to apply JCQ's rules we, as a centre, would be in huge trouble. During exam season we can be inspected at any point with no notice at all to ensure that we are complying with their requirements.

Anybody who thinks that it's not really that important and a bit of common sense is all that's required clearly has no idea how it works these days.

[mumsneedwine]

But Beaufort Belle, it's not up to the school staff. I wish we could make the decisions,but we can't. The exam boards would remove the schools right to admisinstsr exams and that would penalise 1000s of students.If you really had been an invigilator you would know this - there is no flexibility . The rules are rigid and the same for every institution, and you are very naive if you think 'good' kids won't try and cheat.

[bigTillyMint]

OP I really feel for you and your DS.

Surely it is not just an issue of the phone ringing and disturbing others, but also that he could have been using it to cheat? I'm sure that's what DD has been told at her school when they are told to hand them in.

[Floggingmolly]

Linerunner - you said earlier I've submitted reports as an invigilator and have always stressed chaos when it's clearly that...
Is chaos a thing? An actual recognisable thing that can be clearly defined from deliberate attempts to break the rules; and as such deserving of special consideration? Wow.
I wonder how much of a defence scattyness and "chaos" would be if you were to push your trolley out of Tescos without paying?

[mumsneedwine]

To OP. Chin up, wine and lots of cuddles. It is not the end of the world. Years ago this happened to one of my very bright students. Come UCAS time he used it as an example of how he had overcome adversity and learned the hard way. He impressed many a university and is now a very rich consultant in the oil industry. I drag him back every few years to read the riot act to the kids - his words carry more impact than me.

[BreacaBoudica]

Erm, if it had been a deliberate, planned attempt to cheat, surely he'd have had it on silent?!

Hope it gets resolved quickly for him, OP.

[ErrolTheDragon]

I can see how a kid who is stressed about exams and who has done the correct one for all the previous ones could just think he'd dealt with it already.

As to the disturbance caused by a ringing phone - not as bad as a fire alarm (someone's kid on the GCSE support thread had this due to it really going off in a food tech class).

[mumsneedwine]

It doesn't matter Boudecia. Intent doesn't come into it. Phone goes off - all marks lost. The kids are told this at the start of every single exam paper. Every time. No exemptions.

[mumsneedwine]

Errol, fire alarms are given extra time to make up for disturbance. And report made to exam board and consideration given. The exams people do try and be fair. We escort to loos, check loos, watch kids like Hawks. It's not fair on the thousands of kids who have worked their butts off if people cheat. So rules are non negotiable, and drummed into kids from very early on.

[BeaufortBelle]

mumsneedwine I really have been an invigilator, albeit 11/12 years ago. I have not been untruthful about this in any way. I'm rather aghast that you are accusing me of not having done this to be honest.

[mumsneedwine]

I am just surprised your school let you bend the rules. And a bit disgusted they let you. Teachers spend hours getting students ready for exams and want a level playing field. Rules apply to All. I've worked in rough PRUs and I would never have excused a phone. Ever. So It's more annoyance at the thought that the very strict rules are not being universally applied than anything personal. I have been in school very late all week helping year 11s and 13s and the thought of others cheating drives me insane.

[BeaufortBelle]

My view when I was invigilating was that the students who couldn't turn up on time should have been disqualified but hey we were inner London and underprivileged and allowances had to be made. I did at least manage to get management to agree that we would allow the latecomers in in 10 minute intervals up to 30 mins after the start of the exam to minimise the disturbance to the students who were on time and make it easier to administer the extra time.

The system always seems to have been skewed to me in favour of the miscreant rather than the young person who has genuinely done something a bit daft. My heart still hopes that grown ups can exercise some common sense. Mind you, the fact that those in education can't is why we moved our youngest to the indy sector rather than put up with lack of sense, lack of boundaries and lack of moral fibre.

[Didntseethiscominghelpplease]

I like mumsnet, generally. However , "it's easily done" is utter rubbish. Every school Exams officer primes every year 11 on the finer detail. mobile phones posters are huge and displayed outside every exam room. It's hardly like its the first exam we've only a few left so I am in the "he messed up the rules camp". Exams are part and parcel about learning about life. Yes SEN behavioural conditions do mean there is some need for understanding. If there is no SEN situation being "chaotic" isn't a sound defence. If anything it is a great time to address this. Pity the poor kids who understood the rules and were disrupted in the exam room. I might not have read the post that hopefully didn't say it was Mum or Dad calling. why on earth did any teenager have the volume on their phone? Most have them on silent or vibrate most of the time as they never stop flashing with whatsapp Twitter and the rest updates. I'd suggest the exam board follows its rules and the sanction is as explained on the rules sheet. If not a precedent will be set and the perpetrator will dine out on " yeah my phone went off but mummy got me off on a technicality because I am disorganised, it's not my fault". rules are rules. We seem to have forgotten this and waste time thinking up excuses rather than saying "man up you messed up".