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Secondary education

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Original poster

Appealing admin error GCSE ? Submitted for foundation instead of higher.

40 replies

Sevensilverrings · 01/09/2020 15:24

Hi, I’m looking for some advice from teachers, or anyone who’s perhaps in similar situation, if possible? I know you’re all a little busy right now!
My son has done fairly well in his GCSEs, given the bizarre circumstances, however there has been an admin mistake somewhere along the line. He achieved a 7 and 6 for Chemistry and Biology, and we were surprised to see that in his strongest science, Physics, he only got a 5. It turns out his school Ex ems officer accidentally submitted him for foundation paper, so this is the upper limit. They have told us otherwise he would have got a higher grade. (They acknowledge he should have been submitted for higher).
School seems reluctant to appeal. They have instead given us letter from teacher saying the grade he should have been awarded. We are considering pushing for appeal because our son is feeling he worked hard for this grade, and it’s directly relevant to his chosen Alevel and uni aspirations. It’s also an outlier compared to his other grades.
He has enough to do the Alevels he wants at the college he wants, but it still seems unfair. He has ASD, and it’s all very black and white for him. Do you think, in the scheme of things it’s worth getting into a debate with the school (they’re great in lots of ways, but don’t respond well to even gentle criticism). Or should we just roll with it? Son could be talked down, but I’m not sure whether he’s quite right to push to get what he worked for...he really did work hard.
All advice welcome. Appeals need to be in form centre by Friday.
Thanks!

OP posts:
Original poster
Sevensilverrings · 01/09/2020 15:26

Sorry about errors in post. iPad key pad playing up.

OP posts:
titchy · 01/09/2020 15:28

Definitely appeal. Seems a clear cut case.

RedskyAtnight · 01/09/2020 15:29

You are allowed to appeal against admin errors and this sounds like it might be one?
Though I don't fully understand why the teacher assessed grade (presumably higher than a 5) was not allowed to stand (or at least questioned if it went for internal moderation)?

Were you asked to check your exam entries (we were)? If you were and missed this, I guess it's harder to prove error.

titchy · 01/09/2020 15:29

Though I thought the CAGs submitted were simply the grades not the tier...? So how can be have been entered for anything?

Thisismytimetoshine · 01/09/2020 15:31

What he was entered for has no meaning if his grade was teacher assessed. This is weird.

lifesalongsong · 01/09/2020 15:36

@Thisismytimetoshine

What he was entered for has no meaning if his grade was teacher assessed. This is weird.
I would imagine that the upper limits on foundation papers would still apply otherwise the grades could be even more meaningless, you can't enter for foundation expect to submit CAGs of all 9s

If admin errors are allowable for appeal then you should do that, was there any opportunity to have checked the entries before the school closed?

Varjakpaw · 01/09/2020 15:40

DD is in a similar but not the same situation. School have put their hands up and admitted the error is theirs and have already submitted the appeal.

You really must push for this. I can't believe they are reluctant, when as far as I understand it, this is an admin error, and we have been told that admin errors are the only grounds for appeal.

Musmerian · 01/09/2020 15:43

Actually the algorithm overrode the tier system bonkers though that sounds. My son ended up with an 8/9 for Dual Science despite having been entered for foundation with two 5s as a ceiling grade. This is because he was top in the rank order of this group in a generally high performing school. It’s actually quite embarrassing as students were offered a choice post Jan mocks if they had performed poorly to move to foundation in a different exam board and he chose to. If he’d stayed in his original group his grades would have been a lot lower as his CAGS fir science were. Bonkers.

Original poster
Sevensilverrings · 01/09/2020 15:46

Thanks! My understanding is they originally last year submitted for foundation in all sciences, then my son started working and it was clear he would do much better (his autism makes it difficult to predict sometimes). In consultation with us, they moved him to the higher papers for exams, but missed the Physics change in error.
If he was submitted to sit the foundation paper he can only score a 5, irrespective of teacher prediction. That’s my understanding. (As if he has sat that paper for exam 5 is the highest possible grade).
Thanks for help, I don’t know why school aren’t just getting on with appeal. They are awful with perceived criticism, which makes working with them pretty challenging at times. Individual teachers usually very good.

OP posts:
Thisismytimetoshine · 01/09/2020 15:46

@Musmerian

Actually the algorithm overrode the tier system bonkers though that sounds. My son ended up with an 8/9 for Dual Science despite having been entered for foundation with two 5s as a ceiling grade. This is because he was top in the rank order of this group in a generally high performing school. It’s actually quite embarrassing as students were offered a choice post Jan mocks if they had performed poorly to move to foundation in a different exam board and he chose to. If he’d stayed in his original group his grades would have been a lot lower as his CAGS fir science were. Bonkers.
I'm just being thick (as usual), but I don't understand this. What have different exam boards got to do with it?
RedskyAtnight · 01/09/2020 15:53

I'm just being thick (as usual), but I don't understand this. What have different exam boards got to do with it?

The algorithm would have compared like for like. So in this example
"results of only foundation students on Board A" would be standardised to "results from previous 2 years of students on Board A across whole ability range" - thereby moving most foundation students grades up

And
"results of higher students on Board B" would be standardised to "oops we don't have any data for this, better make something up/use the national average" which would likely move grades down (which would be invisible as CAGs would take preference).

Original poster
Sevensilverrings · 01/09/2020 15:58

Nope. More confused now than before I started! On balance, should we appeal then?

OP posts:
Thisismytimetoshine · 01/09/2020 15:58

Ah, thanks Red

Original poster
Sevensilverrings · 01/09/2020 15:59

(Although it’s centres choice not ours I think)

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Frankiegoes · 01/09/2020 16:03

I think I’ve got a similar situation to this. My DD had a CAG of 6 in Maths, but only got a 5 in her GCSE as the school put her in for the foundation level exam. I’ve emailed thenschooo to clarify exactly what happened. But I presume that the exam board marked her CAG down due to it being on the foundation paper. I guess when the school submitted the grades they felt maybe due to her ranking, they preferred to play safe in case the algorithm marked her down.

Original poster
Sevensilverrings · 01/09/2020 16:05

Frankie, that does sound similar. I’m not sure what can be done though...I think we will call the school again tomorrow when they have had more thinking time. We only spoke to them properly today, rest of communication has been email which is never great...

OP posts:
NotAKaren · 01/09/2020 16:05

@Musmerian so are you saying your DS got an 8/9 for science even though he was supposed to do foundation paper with a max grade of 5/5 Hmm

Original poster
Sevensilverrings · 01/09/2020 16:11

Frankie, actually I’d definitely challenge the maths grade. A 6 in maths is important for Alevels. Of course that’s maybe not what your DC wants to do, so perhaps not so significant then...but definitely think about it.

OP posts:
Musmerian · 01/09/2020 16:20

@Sevensilverrings - the point I was making earlier(perhaps not very clearly!) was that the tiers were not adhered to, so in theory a 5 was the highest grade my son could have got if he’d sat the exam but he got an 8 and 9. Obviously a different situation to being entered for the wrong tier and you are definitely entitled to challenge that as an error on the school’s part. There have been a number of examples of foundation tier students scoring above the ceiling and that is going to potentially cause problems with A level choices.

Musmerian · 01/09/2020 16:24

@NotAKaren - that’s precisely what I’m saying. My husband and I are teachers too and have both been heavily involved in CAGS rank ordering etc for both GCSE and A levels and we initially assumed it was a mistake but those are his actual grades. Both as a parent and a teacher I think this is rubbish. It takes the shine off his well deserved high grades in his strong subjects and is clearly not an accurate reflection of his ability in those subjects. We assumed he’d get his CAG which was two 5s but the algorithm thought otherwise and the higher grades stand.

Frankiegoes · 01/09/2020 16:25

Musmerian - how could your DS get higher than a level 5 if he was put in for the foundation level?

noblegiraffe · 01/09/2020 16:25

Students weren’t entered by tier for CAGs so I have no idea why the school are claiming that. We had kids who would have sat Foundation who were awarded a 6 so they definitely weren’t referring to tiers.

I am genuinely baffled by this one.

MadameMinimes · 01/09/2020 16:25

If the school won’t appeal on his behalf then your only option is to make an allegation of maladministration to the exam board, who will then investigate. The tier of entry actually didn’t get taken into account in the awarding of grades so an admin error by the exams officer should not have overridden a higher grade set by teacher prediction. If the school have sent you something admitting an error and saying that his grade should be higher then they should be appealing to the exam board on his behalf. You need to be really clear that they are saying that though. Admitting that he should have been entered for higher is not the same thing as saying his CAG was higher than a 5. Speak to them again and if they say that the grade is wrong and his CAG was higher but they won’t appeal on his behalf, then it’s worth contacting the board. Parents and students don’t have the ability to make appeals this year so it would be an allegation maladministration or malpractice.

TheFallenMadonna · 01/09/2020 16:34

If you have correspondence from the school saying they made an admin error on entry tier, plus a letter from them saying that they entered the CAG incorrectly, and they are refusing to appeal themselves, then I would suggest informing the Head that you will be contacting the exam board so that they can investigate potential malpractice. None of this makes sense.

Musmerian · 01/09/2020 16:36

@Frankiegoes - counter intuitive and unfair but it is a fact I’m not making it up. Also aware that this happened in a number of other schools and there have been concerns that students will start A level courses beyond their capabilities.