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Secondary education

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When will your Gcse student child go on holiday? Contingency Day

36 replies

avenueq · 16/03/2019 00:24

Same for A level - contingency day is 26th of June. When we found out dd had already booked a holiday, so just gotta hope for the best.
Do you think it's because of Brexit or possibility of the queen dying?

OP posts:
JellySlice · 16/03/2019 00:31

No, it's in case of a cockup with the security of the exam papers, or some disaster at the school that mean the kids can't actually sit the papers.

We were given the date for Contingency Day months ago.

avenueq · 16/03/2019 00:31

Why has this never happened before though?

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JellySlice · 16/03/2019 00:59

I don't know. I don't remember it with dc1, but maybe that's because nothing happened about it.

Dd has plans to use that time for work experience.

avenueq · 16/03/2019 07:57

It's definitely not been done before which makes me wonder what's different this year

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anniehm · 16/03/2019 08:01

It was brought in because of grenfell there was no procedure to delay the exam despite thousands being directly or indirectly affected. In the event of a significant incident all exams will be switched to the contingency day. Also in the past a major problem has been identified on exam papers and it could be corrected and moved. It's unlikely to be needed but they are being prepared now.

TapasForTwo · 16/03/2019 08:07

What is contingency day? I have never heard of it before. DD went on holiday the day after her last A level exam last year.

HotpotLawyer · 16/03/2019 08:12

Dc and A level mates have booked a flight for as soon as their exams finished.

They didn’t know about contingency day until after they had checked all their exam dates

They are now having kittens , but I am sure it will be fine.

xyzandabc · 16/03/2019 08:15

This is the 1st year it's been brought in. It's the exam boards and JCQ (joint council for qualifications) that have set the day, schools have no say in the matter. As someone above said, the trigger was Grenfell last year.

It's highly unlikely to be used, but there's always the 'what if.....' factor, no guarantee. Obviously you will know for sure at the end of your child's exams whether they will be required on that day. If they have taken all of their scheduled exams on the right days, then they won't be needed on June 26th.

Depending on when their last scheduled exams is, it may well be possible to go away after their exams but be back by June 26th. Probably easier for GCSE as they tend to finish earlier.

OddBoots · 16/03/2019 08:22

As this is the first year for it I think the publicity ought to have been better both from central government and the schools. I have known about it for months from Mumsnet but the school haven't said anything about it to me or to dd. That said, dd's school keeps them until the last Friday in June doing various life skills (CV writing, finance, childcare etc) things with them after the exams so they expect them to stay anyway.

Bonkerz · 16/03/2019 09:42

Dd told me they have been told it's been introduced because of the Manchester bombing and as a safeguard incase of something going wrong.

FoxSquadKitten · 16/03/2019 09:58

When we got the letter from school, I'd assumed they were planning on striking around exam time, so made a contingency day just in case 🤷‍♀️

SilentSister · 16/03/2019 11:04

DD has to be back in after exams anyway, so booked holiday at normal time, after end of term. What is annoying is that but for the contingency, we could have had a quick week away somewhere, in between end of exams and going back to school. Oh well, saved us some money Grin

TheFillijonk · 16/03/2019 11:11

We've been told that the students need to be available up to and including 26th June. We were hoping to go on holiday once DD's exams had finished and be back for the contingency day. Have now planned go go away on the 27th June!

whippersnapperwrapper · 16/03/2019 11:20

Dated 25 Jan
ofqual.blog.gov.uk/2019/01/25/be-prepared-gcse-and-a-level-exam-contingency-day-2019/

onaroll · 16/03/2019 11:22

We have been told it’s in case the Queen dies.
First year it’s been introduced - will be there every year until it’s ‘ not needed’ anymore.

LizzieMacQueen · 16/03/2019 11:57

Interesting. This doesn't apply in Scotland then? (Different exam boards) I'd best go off and google.

titchy · 16/03/2019 12:08

Why on earth would the queen dying mean a contingency day was needed.

It was suggested as a Brexit contingency, in case there was significant distribution which meant either exam papers couldn't be delivered or kids couldn't get to exams safely.

HotpotLawyer · 16/03/2019 12:23

“Why on earth would the queen dying mean a contingency day was needed.”

Because there would be a day of national mourning with complete shut down, I imagine.

FoxSquadKitten · 16/03/2019 12:50

If it was about the Queen why have they only just done it this year? Doesn't make sense.
The Grenfell/Manchester bombing scenario is more likely.

TapasForTwo · 16/03/2019 12:52

Because the Queen is now 92. She won't last forever.

titchy · 16/03/2019 14:31

I doubt everything would completely shut down when the queen dies. It's the Brexit plan the JCQ came up with. Nothing to do with the queen. Or Grenfell for that matter.

HotpotLawyer · 16/03/2019 14:36

Or any contingency.
It isn’t a bad idea to have a planned contingency day.
They just needed to have flagged it up simultaneously with the exam timetable, which was available ages ago.

Yogagirl123 · 16/03/2019 14:45

Thanks for the info, I wasn’t aware of that either. Sensible idea in current times. Hopefully it’s just a precaution and won’t be needed.

pointythings · 16/03/2019 15:35

I think it's sensible. We're going away on the 6th of July, before term ends but after contingency day - because DD2's prom is on the 5th.

imnottoofussed · 16/03/2019 16:22

Well this is the first I've heard of it and we've booked a break 23rd to 27th June Confused

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