Exam access arrangements weren't implemented

[Floottoot]

DD has GCSE ICT yesterday.
She has ADHD, so qualifies for 25% extra time. The school had also agreed to prompted movement breaks, at half hourly intervals, but in the event, this didn't happen; she was only informed that she had half an hour remaining.
We've spoken to her head of year this morning, who has said she'll look into it - is there anything else we could/should do? Contact the exam officer?

She got the extra time, no problem there, but she didn't get rest/ movement breaks or prompting ( they were meant to be linked, to create prompted breaks, if that makes sense. )

My DS had an 25% extra during his exams a few years ago. He is Autistic and his profile stated that he would not ask for help when he needed it.
Because of timetabling due to this extra time he sat one exam on his own in the afternoon.

When I asked him how his exam went he said it was hard to concentrate as his exam took place next to the languages department and he could hear the oral exams/practice taking place during this exam.

I wrote his schools exam officer enclosing a copy of his profile with a copy to the head of Sen at his school. I told them as stated on his profile how impossible explaining about this issue during the exam would have been for him.
The exam officer apologised and applied for special consideration for him explaining what happened.

Hopefully head of year will sort this but it might be an idea to send an email confirming what was said to the head of year with a copy to the exam officer and head of SEN. Best to have everything in writing.

Your DD has the right to reasonable adjustment in exams so she is on a level playing field to other students. The school have a duty of care to ensure this happens.

Contact the exams officer. Special consideration can be applied for if previously approved access arrangements haven’t been implemented. However, use of a prompter doesn’t need to be approved, so I’m not sure if it counts.

taeglas, thank you for your response. My daughter is the same - she won't ever out her hand up and ask for help/support and those involved with her at school know this. We requested small group invigilation for precisely that reason but school refused. In fact, it's taken a lot of pushing to even get her a prompter.

Noble, yes, the question of what exactly is meant by "previously approved" isn't made clear in the JEC guidelines. I'm assuming that extra time is a straightforward one, but other arrangements that are at the discretion of the exam centre seem less so.
I will contact the exam officer, as suggested.

Head of year has come back to us and said that the invigilator felt DD didn't require a rest break because she looked ok, and that she had time reminders at 30 and 15 minutes before the end.
I feel she's rather missed the point; surely it wasn't for the invigilator to decide whether DD " looked" ok, when it had previously been agreed that the breaks would be prompted?

Floottoot - I can understand your frustration but I think you said? on the GCSE thread that time wasn't an issue...therefore I would step back at this stage ..It doesn't look like this issue will have any effect on the grade your DD gets..so try and keep a good relationship with the school because you will need this come Yr11.

When it comes to Yr11 I would ask for all arrangements in writing but you may find that rules would have changed again at that time.

Who was invigilating your dd's movement breaks?
It would be so much better for her to request them herself when needed. Are they her usual way of working - what does she do in class?

Thanks, Teen.
My biggest frustration is that the school seem to agree to various adjustments and access arrangements ( after repeated requests from us and Dad's paed) but then ignore them, saying they don't feel DD needs them because she seems fine.
While time wasn't an issue this time, the fact that she didn't have a rest/movement break in nearly 2 hours certainly will have had an affect on her work, not least because she was expecting them.
My worry is that the school has to show that rest breaks and prompts are the normal way of working for DD, which they never will be if the school can pick and choose when they think she needs them. Interesting that invigilators/schools don't make a judgement call on whether pupils actually need the extra time they qualify for, but think it's ok to make a value judgement for a pupil that has a diagnosed hidden disability.
If I sound bitter it's because we've had years of battling to get schools to recognise Dd's diagnosis as something that significantly impairs her in the classroom.

ppot, she was assigned a specific invigilator. He also invigilated her mock, during which she did request a rest break but he forgot to give her time prompts. As a result, it was discussed in a meeting and agreed that the best way of working in exams was for the 2 things to be combined. That's my point - that what was agreed and what DD was expecting didn't happen.

Does she have movement breaks in the classroom too? How are they organised?

I suppose that if your DD looked like she was hard at work the invigilator didn’t want to disturb her? There needs to be strict instructions that she must be interrupted for her breaks if that’s what should be happening.

ppot, the classroom situation is slightly different because there is a natural ebb and flow in concentration needed in lessons and she's not having to recall information in such an intense, time-measured way. Plus, lessons aren't 2 hours long.
She is allowed to leave lessons whenever she feels the need, without having to request to.

Noble, that's what the invigilator said - that she looked ok and he didn't want to disturb her. The issue is that he should have been told what the arrangement was, not left to use his own judgement, as you've said.

It is very much the thin end of the wedge; DD should qualify for separate invigilation ( small group would be fine) but school argued that if she had that now, they would have nowhere else left to go, access-wise, when it came to the rest of the GCSEs in year 11 ( she's year 9). So, we went along with that, with the agreement she'd have the prompted rest breaks.

Funnily enough, we didn't even have to ask for her to be assessed for extra time - they offered it. I wonder why?

She wouldn't have needed to be assessed because she has a diagnosis of ADHD

She was assessed and the results showed below average working memory. As I understand it, it's this that was the basis for the extra time.
She was diagnosed with ADHD when she was 7, so not a recent diagnosis but the school SENCo still says he has to be certain she needs access arrangements, hence the struggle we've had to get rest breaks and a prompter; this, despite the JEC guidelines giving ADHD as an example of need.
We spoke to the exam board today who said that it is at the school's discretion whether they choose to apply for special consideration - I can't see them doing that.

It's a nightmare isn't it? I threatened to complain, well I asked for information on appeal process to school and Joint Examinations Council.

DD had ADHD/ADD and dyslexia. I said she presents like a typical neurodiverse girl, keeping it in at great cost.

School outright refused extra time saying her processing speed wasn't bad enough but has agreed to a prompter and rest breaks.

School say that the prompter can prompt her to change questions (saying "move on") but cannot prompt a rest break. DD has to request these. She can take as many as she likes.

The trouble is some exams have 15 questions and some have 3! I have written on a post it when DD wants the move on prompts and she is using these to prompt the rest breaks.

Well done fir gettinģ this far with the arrangements. History of provision is really important. DD's diagnosis was in year 10 so it has been hard trying to get things right for y11 GCSEs.

peggy, you have said exactly what I want to but struggle to express -_ that DD also presents as "unremarkable" , but that is absolutely typical of ADHD girls; they do whatever they can to appear to cope, in order to fly under the radar, but the stress of trying to do this takes its toll. There is no way someone who doesn't know DD well would be able to judge whether she was ok in an exam, just by looking at her.
I am so fed up with feeling that we have to prove her diagnosis; schools seem hell bent on trying to disprove it, despite having minimal training in understanding exactly what ADHD is and how it manifests itself.