Exam Access Arrangements

[fleshmarketclose]

Dd has a statement of SEN (our LEA is well behind the timescales for transfer to EHCP and so dd's statement is unlikely to transfer until y11) and is in y9.
Dd's statement is a decent statement and specifies the need for extra time in all assessments because she has processing difficulties and her recording speed is slow.
I was led to believe that extra time in all assessments would provide evidence of need for her GCSEs and up until this year's exams she has received extra time, been seated with a TA outside of the exam hall etc.
When I asked about the arrangements for this year's exams I was told by the SENCo that dd reporting she hadn't finished would be sufficient and so she wouldn't be receiving extra time.
I would argue that she should receive the provision in her statement, that the extra time would mean a better assessment of her abilities which in turn would protect her self esteem and if I push the point then she will get the extra time.
What I want to know though should I have to do this? Shouldn't the extra time be a given because of the provision in her statement and is that really true that it is sufficient that dd just reports she ran out of time? This is problematic in itself in non essay based exams as dd works through the paper doing the ones she finds easiest first and so might well complete the last question on her first sweep of the paper. Wouldn't this perhaps be used to indicate she had in fact finished?
The other question I have is dd should have been sitting the higher tier exam papers (as she is predicted 7 to 9 in GCSE). Due to some incompetence in Learning Support mix up she has sat foundation papers and so has to re sit. Is it reasonable to expect that the re sits are sat over the course of the week like they would have been rather than pushed into gaps in her timetable as the SENCo suggests? The gaps have other purposes again detailed in her statement and so not free periods like the SENCo implies.

1. statement does not apply to exam dispenstaion, that is a whole different application, and the school will need to collet a range of evidence over time, such as unfinished exam papers.

1. No, you can't have special new exam timetable for retakes!

I work in an SEN school and our Ed Psych has told us that if a student has an EHCP or a statement they are automatically qualified for a reader, scribe and extra time (new this year).
I don't know the ins and outs of it, I'm afraid, but every one of our year 11 students had these three things in every exam (GCSE) this year without having to sit the usual (very expensive) assessments our past Year 11s have had to sit.

That is nonsense, most students with EHCP don't need, and don't want those things. And wouldn't be entitled to them

but every one of our year 11 students had these three things in every exam (GCSE) this year without having to sit the usual (very expensive) assessments our past Year 11s have had to sit

what expensive assessment? There is no expense for being assessed for exam dispensation. The school applies for it..

Well I'd say seeing as they were school assessments then provision would have to be made in accordance with her statement or otherwise I would have cause to raise the school's failure to meet the statement with the LEA as I have previously which just means the LEA order them to do it anyway. Thought that it would save me an email if the school sorted it anyway.
Is that right then user that not finishing an exam is all the proof required to secure extra time? If that was the case probably half her class would qualify I'd imagine.
As for the timetable dd doesn't have free periods to stuff in exams that she should have completed at the same time as her classmates and would have if the SENCo/Learning Support had got their act together.
Why should she cram them in around lessons when she has already completed the wrong exams once purely because the Learning Support department is incompetent and not fit for purpose?

Dd wouldn't need a reader or a scribe (I think they would be a detriment rather than a help tbh) but she does need the extra time and a room away from the the exam hall and her TA in attendance.

Her TA would not be allowed to be in attendance during public exams (gcses and A levels). She would be entitled to extra time and a separate room (with a separate invigilator).

In our school during mocks when the regular time has finished the candidate is asked to switch to a green pen so that any work completed after the regular time is obvious). There is also a form to fill in saying what they used the extra time for, eg. finishing the paper, reading through written answers, amendments. These and the coloured writing are what provides the evidence that the time is needed.

user1497480444

Well, of course we wouldn't force them to use any provisionals they don't want to but I think most would be silly not even to consider it. You may think it is "ridiculous" but I'm 90% sure it is the case.

We don't have a member of our school team who is qualified to carry out the assessments (you used to have to below a certain percentile to qualifiy for this,that and the other, as I said I'm not the expert). We had to hire an Educational Psychologist to carry them out.

OP I don't think your daughter would have any difficulty being eligible for the access arrangements you describe but if the school is difficult/reluctant it is better to have the battle sooner rather than later.

Her TA absolutely can be present in the separate exam room with her either as her invigilator or her reader/scribe as long as they are not a relative, peer, friend, current student of the school or the timetabled subject teacher.

Allthebest the green pen is what has previously happened in school assessments in so far as dd had the extra time and used a green pen for the extra time. I don't understand why what has happened previously has suddenly been stopped this year tbh.
Dd is well aware that she is slower at everything and the extra time levelled the field so to speak. Without the extra time her marks are significantly lower and don't really reflect her ability this is then detrimental to her confidence and self esteem.

Blueemerald relieved to hear her TA could be present.It's thought dd will probably need rest/movement breaks and her TA would be best able to monitor/implement them.

'What I want to know though should I have to do this? '

No you shouldn't have to do this.

A statement is evidence of complex needs as stated by JCQ on p26 of access arrangements regs. The SENCO should write a file note on school headed paper stating why dd needs extra time and attach her statement and any other evidence related to her difficulties.
You don't need unfinished exam papers.

Your dd may have a TA with her in the room but it might not be her usual one, where I work it wouldn't be but it would be the same person in all the exams and that person would soon get to know the cues that your dd needs a break.

Thank you nota I thought that having a statement specifying the need for extra time would be the evidence needed because after all it is based on reports from ed psych/OT/SALT and Autism Outreach. Trouble is everything has to be fought over with the SENCo who doesn't seem to grasp the statement's significance or the need for the school to meet it. Thankfully the HT is supportive and the LEA just order the school to meet the statement (luckily it's specified and quantified so there is no wiggle room ) but it's a drag tbh Although it's not so bad now I just inform HT who does what the LEA would do. In fact I will probably just email HT the latest farce and let him sort it tbh instead of banging my head on a brick wall.

Is that right then user that not finishing an exam is all the proof required to secure extra time?

no, its part of it, you need a lot of evidence, including samples of work, and statements from teachers, etc

Why should she cram them in around lessons when she has already completed the wrong exams once why were they the wrong exams? Do you mean they weren't the ones you wanted her to do! That doesn't mean the school didn't want her to do them though, and if not, why didn't she say so before all the exams were finished? It sounds like these others are an option that she is being allowed, but it wouldn't be right for her to miss lessons because of it, and you also have very little flexibility as to when someone is available to invigilate.

but she does need the extra time and a room away from the the exam hall and her TA in attendance.

she won't be allowed her TA in a public exam, noone adult who has been present in the lessons is allowed in the exam hall, or to see the exam paper until AFTER it has been sent to the exam board. Normally 2-3 days.

She will be allowed to be in a separate room, but many of these separate rooms are filled with quite noisy and disruptive pupils, such as those on word processors, speaking to scribes, allowed to take breaks, etc.

exam dd's statement specifies the number of TA's allowed in her support team and the required knowledge and experience needed to support dd. Fortunately it discounts an awful lot of them in Learning Support so I'm pretty confident it will be one of the approved three who supports her during exams.

Oh no they were the wrong exams because Learning Support gave her the wrong papers. I only discovered when first her Maths teacher contacted me to tell me she had been given the wrong paper and so contacted all her other subject teachers.
Why would dd or I know they were the wrong ones? She sat them alone in a room with a TA. Neither dd nor I knew that the exams had been tiered she sat the papers she was given. We wouldn't have known until they were marked and that is exactly what happened.
The fault lies with Learning Support as rather than giving her the ones that had been passed to them in a bundle with her name and form on they gave her the papers that I assume others in Learning Support were sitting at the same time.
Dd had thought that Maths in particular was very easy but seeing as she is in top set and predicted a 9 I didn't expect her to find it that difficult anyway.
I assume then that the three TAs in the public exams will be allocated to the exams where they don't support her in lessons.Which shouldn't be too difficult to sort out anyway.

If the DD has a statement she will not need extra evidence.

Her TA can be in the exam.

My school is inspected by JCQ every year and we pass every year with TAs, mentors other teachers etc with our year 11s.

There is no mention of TAs in the JCQ guidance.

www.jcq.org.uk/Download/exams-office/ice---instructions-for-conducting-examinations/instructions-for-conducting-examinations-2016-2017 section 6.3 here.

And everyone with a reader and/or scribe has to be in a separate room, obviously!!

Blueemerald I have a feeling user is the SENCo we currently endure she's certainly as abrasive and defensive anyway.

I could believe it. About 10 years ago the head of my brother's SEN school wrote to my mother to say that it was "unheard of" to get extra time in public exams. My mother cried when she got that letter. Luckily we soon realised that we could now get whatever we wanted from the LEA. (He did pretty well in his exams in the end).

It's tough though when the parent knows the system better than the SENCo as it leaves nowhere to hide. Unfortunately though I think our SENCo has got too comfortable being able to hide and she is not liking being made accountable for the failings. I'd like to think though that not only dd is getting better support as a result though.

And everyone with a reader and/or scribe has to be in a separate room, obviously!!

of course they don't... schools are not going to have anything like the number of invigilators or rooms available. You get up to about 6 scribes in a room, and further to that, another 6 or so readers who are not scribes, and then others with other dispensations too.

I assume blueemeraldagain means that the students with scribes and readers are together in a separate room to the main hall not a separate room for each person

User1497480444 - FFS stop spouting shit that your school allegedly does that is against the regulations.

Others have already pointed you in the direction of the JCQ regs about readers and scribes being able to act as invigilators and the need for them to be in single rooms - yours is the ONLY school anyone has come across that is seemingly unable to adhere to these basics.