Another distracted exam case. Advice please

[Chilliandspice]

My D 16 has her own room. The exam officer was unwilling to give this despite a letter from her psychs saying she needed it due to very high anxieties. She also has ASD. She gets rest breaks and extra time. After a lot of arguments she got a room and separate invigilator. During an exam 3 weeks ago kids came in and were running around and shouting for over 15 minutes. My d thought it was around 40 minutes. The invigilator was unable to stop them. Gave my D a rest break. Tried to contact reception, exams officer and other staff to assist to no avail. After 15 minutes with the noise still going on my D was told she had to carry on. She found it impossible to concentrate and didn't finish the paper. DH sent email to exams officer and SMT and Senco . To this day no one has responded from the school. I went in and spoke to exam officer who said it was a momentary noise and that she could apply for special consideration for that exam but that she felt should apply for all exams on MH grounds. Called exam board and told go away. As she has EHCplan told case worker who emailed and got response that it was my d's fault for asking for that room and not being in main area. Basically they said couldn't guarantee no noise. Couldn't have someone to stop kids getting into area in theatre below where she was sitting as had no staff for that. Also said it want as long as D said. Help. Our relationship with the school is poor. Last year sat exams crying as exams officer refused to give her own room despite psych letter. I'm so relieved she is leaving this place. As a parent do we have any right to see what they submit to exam board? Is there any point?

You can request to recall the paper after it has been marked etc in september, but there is quite a high charge. Sounds like she's had a horrible time of it.

No advice but sympathy as my child's school behaved like your child's too.

I really believe if she had an obvious physical illness she would have been treated differently.

Where is your dd going next?

Thank you both. We are now looking at independent mainstream college of less than 200 pupils. Small classes of less than 10. We are in London. There are no appropriate independent specialist post 16 with access to Alevels. Saw SosSen for advice and now more prepared for the fight for better provision.

There are very strict regulations about exam rooms. If the school can't guarantee a quiet suitable place to sit an exam with no interruptions, it strikes me they are in serious breach of exam guidelines. Your child is entitled under JCQ guidelines to certain provisions, and the school has an absolute obligation to provide these.

I would be phoning the exam board and asking for advice and advising them of serious bad practice by the school and asking what dispensation they can offer your child. In my experience (I'm a teacher) exam boards are approachable and sympathetic.

Then I would phone the LEA to make a complaint about the school's exam administration.

Then, if at all possible, I would get the hell out of there.

Devilmakeswork thank you for your response. I called the exam board and they were very clear that the school had to deal with it and we could not be involved. We are not the only case at the school D's friend was due to sit IT and when turned up for exam had not been entered! I believe she may not be only one. A teacher who I know said to be careful because the exam board could void the exam completely which would punish my D for schools failure.

Good luck. Have you spoken to the Head? What did s/he have to say?

You are right to be concerned that your D doesn't end up losing out even further.

If there are more exams to sit, or you will be at the school next year, then what you need is an apology and assurances that this will never happen again. Students bursting into an exam room and running around? I have genuinely never heard of anything like this happening. It's pretty outrageous. And I can't believe that she was told to "get on with it".

If you think that your daughter has lost marks because of this incident then your school needs to tell you what they'll be reporting to the exam board. If they refuse to take any action or won't report a problem...well, then you have a tricky decision to make. If it was ME, I would threaten the Head with a formal complaint to the LEA and/or JCQ, but then that's me. As with all meetings, decide what outcome you want BEFORE you go in.

You can read the JCQ instructions for conducting exams yourself:

www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/ice---instructions-for-conducting-examinations/instructions-for-conducting-examinations-2016-2017

And also their information about reporting and dealing with malpractice:

www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/malpractice/suspected-malpractice-in-examinations-and-assessments-2016-17

Good luck!