Time off for GCSE

[ellie7347]

Hi, my dd is starting year 10 in Sept and is really interested in studying a GCSE that isn't offered at her school via distance learning. It would mean sitting two 1hr 30 min exams privately at the end of year 10 so would mean 2 half days off school.

Has anyone ever done this? Would it be classed as education offsite?

Yes it should be granted as educated offsite unless it clashes with the GCSE timetable at school in which case it will be unauthorised absence.

Have you asked the school if they can arrange for her to sit it there? My DD is taking a MFL GCSE not offered by the school but they have agreed to arrange for her to sit the exam at school to minimise disruption.

Thanks Reinette. I'll ask at school. It's Year 10 so I don't think she'll have any GCSE exams that early on unless she sits some early.

I would also suggest asking if she can sit the exam at school. That shouldn't be too difficult for school to arrange.

She can do it early, but it will be arranged with the year 11 students timetable in mind.

She might have to sit in the back of a yr 11 exam with a similar time limit set so she doesn't disturb anyone going in or out. It should be fine to organise.

Dd has time off for music grade exams . She gets 'educated offsite' on register

Will it count on school statistics though? They might forbid it without a guarantee of her predicted grade?

DD1 studied for a language not offered by the school and was able to use the school as an exam centre. The school was more than happy to facilitate this.

It was good for DD as she gained a lot of confidence before sitting her GCSEs proper.

It would be much easier if she sits the actual exam at her own school. The school doesn't have to teach the subject to offer the exam. Languages and practical exams are more difficult. They will authorise it.

For the spoken part of DD's language GCSE we found a private language school who were able to handle it. All other papers were sat at her school.

All arrangements were made through the school's exams officer who was more than happy to assist. The only part we paid for was the spoken paper which cost around £60 if memory serves.