Headteacher: Exams should be postponed till next year.

[HPFA]

This in the Guardian:

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/15/cancel-this-years-gsce-and-a-levels

Not sure how this would be workable - would the pupils spend next year rehashing the syllabus and doing constant practice papers? Seems to be an awful lot of practical problems.

A-Levels I think is tricky but surely for GCSEs the simplest solution if exams can't be sat as normal is to use predicted grades. Schools have reams of data - 99% of parents know what their child's grade "ought" to be. The school's submissions would be checked against their normal results - it would be easy to spot any schools trying to cheat. The exams could also be offered in November so that anyone who thought they would have done much better in a "real" exam can sit them then - the numbers should be relatively small and manageable.

Anyone got any other ideas on how the situation could be managed?

I too would currently go with sitting exams as usual.
The boundaries could be adjusted (lowered) to reflect the situation.
At least then say 80-90% of the pupils get to sit their exams so you 'only' have to worry about 20-10% who are ill/quarantined.
They could then do the November sittings of English & maths alongside their A levels / further studies.

That article is not deeply thought through.

To be fair it is the Guardian...

Dd3 is doing GCSE and is due to attend a levels in Denmark from August. She is recently diagnosed with dyslexia and her predicted grades will not take this into account. For her exams in September will he complex though I suspect the world school she will attend would support.

Ds is doing a levels I think he would be very unhappy to do a year 13 he says he is done w school just want to leave. His predicted grades are likely fair but I think he could add 1 more. Who knows.

Personally I feel closure of the other years and wider space for exams a better option.

The whole thing worries me as my DD mocks were very bad in November - she didn't cope well with her father being diagnosed with two cancers and being in hospital for two months- she has already jumped three grades since the mocks and is expected to do well now in her GCSEs however if they were to use predicted grades which were based on her Nov mocks she wouldn't be able to stay on for sixth form or move to another six form as her grades wouldn't be high enough. We are currently liaising with the school about this

EwwSprouts the trouble is many invigilators, at least in the schools I work in, are all retired and many over 70. There is a worry there may not be many willing to come and work in a school this May/June. Teachers are also not required to invigilate exams.

Uni students could act as invigilators?

Yes that's a good idea. Hopefully they could be trained in time

I think that they should postpone exams until September. Students could receive exam results in November and the term should start in January. Obviously allowances would have to be made for missing teaching time,
The peak time for the virus is thought to be about May, which is when the exams start.
Very worrying times

How can they sit exams in Sep. In our city they all go onto a separate 6th form college. Where are they doing September, doing exams? How are their old schools going to fit the extra year group, how are they going to sort out uni courses?

Sorry Alevel courses? It’s a ridiculous idea. And as for getting them to work all summer, good luck with that one.

Don’t think invigilators would be a problem if schools shut. Hoards of available staff, volunteers.

Who is going to mark these exams sat in September? lots of the examiners are teachers! They will be teaching.

These are all ridiculous ideas, resit the year, where on earth will schools house an extra 250-300 children, where will they get the teachers from? It would mean 2 year 13s applying for university places, 2 year 11s applying for sixth form places.

Predicted grades for my son last year were 7+ for lots of these he achieved 9s. The SATS grades for maths meant the school system showed his predicted grade as a 6, his teacher could only over-ride it to show a 7 despite continuously getting 9s on every past paper and homework set. He achieved a 9 in the actual GCSE.

Same for English lang, SATS predicted a 5, school could over-ride to a 6, he achieved an 8.

His mock exam for History was 6 in November, 6 in February and his teacher reckoned he could get that grade up to a 7. He achieved a 9 in the actual GCSE. Predictions are just guess work.

My DS is home ed and due to sit his first GCSE this year.
We have no predicted grades.

How would going by predicted grades work for him?

In the whole exam discussion, no attention has been paid to what happens about practical elements of any subjects - eg MFL speaking tests, music practicals, subjects with coursework which won't be submitted.

I disagree. Most Y11 and Y13 students have competed their courses and are now revising old material with their teachers. Even if schools close, it should be possible to host exams. Desks are spread out. We will have been social-distancing for a considerable period by then. Lots of students will be using this enforced quiet time to revise at home. It would be far worse for them to delay at this point.

@champagneandfromage50 November is very early for mocks. I think it is too early. Every year I have students who do badly in February mocks and then pull their socks up.

Piggywaspushed

Dd is going A levels. Her final drama performance with the external invigilator should have been this coming Monday. Dd is in isolation due to a cough and cold. 3 out of 4 in their group are now in isolation. Their drama teacher has a lung condition so in an 'at risk' group so can't be in school. The drama teacher is trying to sort something.
It's tough going.

Even if schools close, it should be possible to host exams. Desks are spread out. We will have been social-distancing for a considerable period by then. Lots of students will be using this enforced quiet time to revise at home. It would be far worse for them to delay at this point.

Agreed. It's inevitable that a larger number of kids than usual won't be able to sit all the papers for some GCSEs, but the existing arrangements will cover this.

They really haven't genevieva! I teach and two of my exam groups had not finished. Coursework submission deadlines are in May, too.

Ds has GCSE coursework and music performances to record. Dd still has A level material to cover and coursework to submit. Ds's music teacher had cancer and only one kidney so was sent home.

I'm a teacher. We were all told to set predicted grades yesterday and are expecting that exams will not take place.

It was a surreal experience, knowing that for some students, the letters we typed in would determine whether they got their preferred university place.

There were some interesting discussions, such as whether to predict a higher grade to the "bright but lazy" students who hadn't put in any effort all year but may pull it out of the bag with revision. But at the end of the day we just had to base our decisions on evidence and professional judgement.

ClassicallyConditioned - I'm sure you are right but I'm really hoping not as DD had "mixed" mocks which were back in early Nov but has knuckled down massively since then and is doing so much better. Hope the teachers will bear that in mind when they do predictions! On the plus side, it's GCSEs rather than A Levels.

If they do make the call to scrap the exams, does that mean that the Y11s will have 5 months of doing absolutely nothing - clearly by no means a problem considering everything else but that will feel very long............

@GU24Mum we definitely didn't base our predictions only on full paper mocks. In my subject students do mini mocks every fortnight, so we had plenty of evidence of their ability. As I said though, there are students every year who do considerably better in real exams because they don't revise for mini mocks but do for the real thing, but even if we suspect that, we can't reward their poor work ethic with a higher grade than we have evidence for. But if your DC has shown evidence of a higher ability recently that will definitely be taken into account.

& I doubt any of us will be told anything official before May. It will be better to have students believe exams are still happening so that they continue learning from home and aren't just out on the streets causing trouble.

Thanks - that's reassuring. I'm really hoping that they perhaps say they'll be postponed til early-mid June (rather than cancel them now) and make a decision then.

What about the kids with mental health issues, under CAMHs. I could cry. My ds had awful mocks, just starting to pick up as counselling has started. Being away from school over Easter would have helped hugely.