Missing Mock GCSE - will this be a problem?

[MissingMySleep]

We have a holiday booked in Oct half term and as there was an issue with dates, we are now not going to be back for the first two days of school. DC will miss 2 days of school. His attendance is 100% (bar orthodontic appts), and I didn't, at the time of booking the holiday, foresee this as much of a problem.

We will be out of the UK and travelling back by ferry, so I can't just come back early, the weekend ferries are booked up. Hence us coming back 2 days later.

I haven't told the school yet, or DC, I figured I would wait until nearer the time, as I didn't want the DCs to worry about it.

I have just got an email with the mock GCSE dates. His maths and science mocks are spread over 3 days, the first one of which is this day. He will be at school for the rest of them.

Am now in a state of panic.

If he misses the first GCSE mock can he retake it a day or two later?

How important are the mocks these days?

I thought they used these to asses students when they apply for college, but last week my son was telling me that they do not do this any more.

Do I tell them we are away, they will be probably more annoyed if I do that than if I just ring him in sick on that day. I was planning to tell them we are away rather than ring him in sick.

Thanks in advance.

I would email school and ask if he could stay late and sit the ones he’s missed. This data is pretty useful so I should imagine school will cooperate, however after a day of exams he’s going to be pretty exhausted and it might not be an accurate representation of his ability.

We usually run mop-up sessions for kids who miss mocks because there’s always kids off ill etc.

Oh that's encouraging. So you can sit them on a later date? It's not as strict as the actual GCSEs?

Yeah- school should do anything to accommodate these as it helps teachers plan and prepare for the final run up :)

We usually run mop up sessions but it's not ideal as they can be told what s on the paper.

Usually mock exams are in the school calendar which goes to staff in the summer term. For anyone reading it this, generally before booking any holidays over term time in year 11 contact the school first to check for clashes (though preferably don't miss in y11).

I would email school and ask if he could stay late and sit the ones he’s missed

I'm not sure that I would actually ask specifically for him to be able to stay late (as opposed to just sit what he has missed as soon as convenient when he comes back). For that, at least one member of staff would have to stay late specifically for him as well. At DS2's school, missed internal assessments are usually sat at lunchtime (but obviously this wouldn't work with a longer paper, or where there is no member of staff available / willing to supervise at that time).

Thanks for all the replies.

I wasn't sure whether a mock was an internal exam or whether there were strict guidelines around them, as there are for GCSEs.

If they had let us know the exam dates earlier I would have been able to avoid this.

Right now I am not sure what I should do for the best.

Schools generally assume that parents wouldn’t take kids out for term-time holidays in Y11. Publishing mock dates so that parents can arrange their holidays around them wouldn’t really occur to them.

Make sure your kid takes revision with them on holiday.

Can he stay home, with a grandparent or someone? It may make dc less stressed if they have the option.