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

We had a similar problem during our mocks, a mistake but a potentially costly one. However as a result the Deputy Head has made a big thing as they line up outside of the mobile phone patdown. He does a mad dance and they all copy. It has worked (one pupil found their ipod) but also it has dispelled tension. However they also have three further warnings in the exam room. Whilst I expect he has lost the marks for this exam I expect the rest will be fine. Hope all goes OK.

It really i simpossible to say what the outcome will be but I would be shocked if teh marks for that particular paper were allowed to stand, I'm afraid. He may be okay for the other papers but he may not.

The boards take phone infringements terribly seriously as it is cheating in their eyes, no less.

Applecheeks. I hope your son is OK. It must be horrible for him not quite knowing what is going to happen.

Exam invigilator are minions in the exam process. They do not make any decisions. I suppose that in the future there will be CCTV cameras to observe what the little darlings are up to in the future. It would make evidence of foul play easier to prove.

I agree with clashcity that there's definitely an element of being told about phones so often they just stop listening. We've had gsce, AS and A2 exams going on in this house for the last 4 years. Every year there's always at least one person, if not more, who's turned out to have a phone in an exam - imagine how many there must be who don't get found out because their phone doesn't ring or fall out of their blazer pocket.

I know from my kids that the penalties can be very severe however. dS3 says 'of course' he wouldn't take his phone into an exam. But I still hold off texting to ask how an exam went until I'm certain he will be well clear of the exam hall - just in case!

I don't believe a phone going off would cause a significant distraction for the other students. I've done a little bit of invigilation, whicih seems much more intense than when I was at school. Quite frankly, a phone ringing would be no more distracting to me than people walking past my desk regularly. I did one of my finals papers with the girl in front of me crying all the way through - now that was distracting!

I sat my one of my finals papers next to a person who is now extremely famous. They wrote with a dip pen. I kid you not. I still remember the scratch scratch scratch pause dip scratch noise to this day. A mobile phone woild have bee. a blessed relief. Sadly, they hadn't been invented.

" Quite frankly, a phone ringing would be no more distracting to me than people walking past my desk regularly."

But you aren't the stressed out student sitting the exam.

I still think that parents of scatty children should either make sure their children's phones are off and in the bag or not taken to school in the first place on exam days. It can't be that difficult.

Easier said than done, bun. If your kid takes public transport a lot use the phone for music or even last minute revision on the way and may need them on the way back as they may be coming home earlier than usual and need picking up.

Who on earth was ringing him during an exam? - the people inviting him to make a PPI claim?! - or more likely, anyone who doesn't know he has an exam right at that moment, which is probably everyone he knows apart from his parents?!

Yeah, I was saying to DD before this thread started that if someones phone did ring in an exam it'd probably be bloody vodafone.

If it's a really clear rule (my ds is 12 so haven't got there yet) I suspect the exam board will disqualify him from that paper and possibly that subject but I think it would be exceedingly harsh to disqualify from all 5 subjects. I seriously doubt that will happen.

Does he want to do A level in that subject? That would have more serious consequences if he needs a GCSE/decent grade in that subject but otherwise, it's a lesson learnt.

It was a PPI sales call. DS isn't doing A levels he has a college place which he needs 4 C grades for so losing one GCSE should not jepardise his place but it lessens his chances of getting the four C's with one out of the picture. I have spoken to the Exams Officer at school this morning. She hadn't submitted the report at that stage. DS has written a statement this morning to submit alongside it which is the procedure. She wasn't able to tell me any time scales. I get the impression it's the first time she has been through the process as she is relatively new to the post. She thinks he will lose the B1 unit which makes it likely he will fail Core Science as he is doing the double science GCSE. All in all if this is what happens we will feel it's a just outcome

Bloody hell, Apple, I really do feel for you both.

Bloody PPI.

Bloody PPI

Hope he gets his college place Applecheeks.

Oh it would be bloody PPI
Really hope it all works out for your DS Applecheeks and he gets what he needs for his next steps into college - I'm sure he will
Hope he's OK too x

*" Quite frankly, a phone ringing would be no more distracting to me than people walking past my desk regularly."

But you aren't the stressed out student sitting the exam.*

No, but I've done a hell of a lot of exams and have 3 grown up/almost grown up children so have a fairly good idea of what causes stress in an exam room - and what doesn't.

I'm really sorry Applecheeks - the penalties seem completely out of proportion to the offence, not to mention the stress to a student of waiting to hear what their punishment will be.

They do make a judgement call and that is why the child gets a chance to explain himself and school submits a report. I hope the young man gets away with a formal warning. Whatever you think of him taking a phone it must be sheer hell not knowing what is going to happen next.

It's possible to access the Internet with a smartphone. There is a difference between the annoyance of the phone going off and a child using the Internet to find out the exam answer.

What should happen to a child who accidently takes revision notes into an exam? That is easily done. A smartphone is a set of revision notes.

The staff write a report and then the board decides. At least he wasn't updating Facebook. I am hoping he gets a slap over the wrists and that his marks stand.