Special Consideration help please!

[Peachypeaches]

My son was taken ill with repeated vomiting during the first 15 minutes of his DT resistant materials exam. He was unable to continue the exam as the school weren’t willing to supervise him in a separate room, and he couldn’t return to the main exam hall due to the vomiting.

The school applied for special consideration, but his situation isn’t really covered in the guidance. If he’d been ill before the exam he would have received an adjusted grade (he was predicted an B overall, and got a B for the practical component) Because he started the exam he has only been awarded an additional tiny percentage on top of what he was able to answer before he was taken ill, and as he wasn’t able to answer many questions this has left him with a D grade overall.

It just seems so unfair for him that starting the exam has led to him being hugely disadvantaged. He can’t even resit as the exam specification he took has now finished and moved to the 9-1 system with a whole new specification.

It’s 2 years of work down the drain and he is devastated. The exam board (AQA) won’t speak to parents, and neither will the JCQ, and the school is no help at all and just keeps saying that his situation isn’t covered in the guidance and they have done the best that they could for him.

I’m not sure what to do next, or if there is anything at all that I can do. I would be grateful for any advice.

Oh what a horrible situation.

Technically as he started the exam it can’t be written off otherwise loads of kids would ‘fall ill’ during exams they didn’t like the look of. The problem is that the school wouldn’t allow him to continue the exam (usually they are given a bucket!).

Has the exams officer actually spoken to the exam board about the process, or have they just applied for special consideration (an online form). I think I would want an official exam board response to the exact situation and whether the school should apologise for not letting him continue the exam.

There are level 2 vocational qualifications equivalent to the old GCSE that your ds may be able to take as an alternative. The link is www.qualhub.co.uk/qualification-search/qualification-detail/ncfe-level-2-certificate-in-creative-studies-craft-4413.
He may be able to submit the coursework with a few modifications for this qualification and take the controlled assessment for this course.
Unfortunately only a few marks can be added on for special consideration and the school won't want to risk a potentially infectious student being present in an exam hall.
Some schools would let him continue in the sick bay (if the school has one).
I know this year the school where I work was very short of exam invigilators and we wouldn't have had the staff for an extra room after the exam had started.

Thank you for the advice and information. It’s just such a shame that if he’d been sick 15 minutes earlier he’d probably have at least a C. He wants to do A-Level Product Design which we’ll have to try to convince the college to let him do as he doesn’t meet the entry requirements now.

Can you get a per-paper breakdown of his results for the college? Showing that he did well on the other paper/coursework and then disastrously on the sick paper should be enough to demonstrate what happened. They want bums on seats so would hopefully be flexible.

Has his coursework portfolio been returned to him by the school? For creative A levels the portfolio may be just as important/more important than the exam results. His exam results slip will show the grades for the different components and presumeably the school will support the extenuating circumstances.
There may also be BTEC level 3 design options available to him as well as a back-up.