AQA GCSE Mock exam timings?

[52andblue]

Can anyone whose child is doing AQA GCSE's next summer advise?

The School my Ds is at have not held mocks yet.
He thought they were to be in January, then 'in the Spring'.
I asked the Head and he said 'it's not our fault - AQA won't have the mocks ready until Spring this year'.
I'm skeptical as it's an awful school and getting accurate info v hard.
My child has had no formal assessments or predicted grades for a whole academic year. 'Parents evening' was 5 mins phone call from Form Tutor giving grades for effort in class and homework - rubbish.

Mocks are entirely at the schools discretion. We use past papers. The school decides when to do them. Sorry!

I'm really confused - I thought schools made their own mock papers lifting questions from past papers (or questions from other exam boards as they are similar and won't have been used as practice papers in class or for revision).

AQA do not set the mocks - the school do. Perhaps they mean that they are waiting for further advice from the exam boards/ DFE. Perhaps they think that some or all of the GCSE might be assessed on school data and so they are waiting to do the mocks just in case?

Pp are right. Mocks are set and taken entirely at the school's say so. My school does Mocks in July y10, Nov y11, Feb y11, my last school did 5 whole sets of mocks between July y10 and May y11.

The only exception, and where the school's comments could be acceptable, is if there is a brand new syllabus for which practice papers haven't been written yet.

That said, any teacher/hod/curriculum leader worth their salt should be able to put together a reasonably decent set of mock-style exam questions even with a brand new syllabus.

It would be exceptional for all subjects to be on a new syllabus.

DS is mid mocks at the moment.

Around here schools do mocks any time from November to February. The schools do it themselves.
As for not having any assessments or predicted grades - make an appointment with whomever is on charge of this at your school - tutor, head of year or headmaster/mistress. Get some answers from them as to how they are supporting - or not - your child. You may have to be pushy.

This was my suspicion.

The School is bloody awful.
I wrote to the Head asking for clarification as my ds (Autism, Dyslexia and clinical Anxiety for which he is medicated) about Exam concessions / when the mocks are as concessions should be in place. I wrote 3 times. I have spoken to the Deputy twice.

Now Caamhs have called the Senco who says that ds: 'is coping'

He isn't and that is not what I asked.
The fact Caamhs is involved is telling I think.

Shit. Now what ???

sorry to swear - thanks for replies

(sb: 'the fact that Caamhs have had to get involved is telling')

It's ok to swear- this must be so frustrating, and it's obvious they're fobbing you off.
In order to get the extra time, it needs to be his usual way of working, so you're right - he needs to sit those mocks under the conditions he will have in summer.

I suspect the school are waiting for the release of the mark schemes to go with the exams that are currently being taken in the autumn series, so they can use the 'really papers. The exam papers are released to schools about a week after the paper has been sat but the mark schemes are not released until after the results are out, which I think is in January.

School are massively bullshitting you, and your ds will be the one suffering the consequences.
Schools around here run mocks towards the end of Year 10 and in November and Feb/March of Year 11. They use past papers, which are easily accessible on the exam boards’ websites.
If your ds needs reasonable adjustments they must reflect his usual way of working. Without mocks or other precedent he will not be entitled to these adjustments and will have to sit exams under the same conditions as everybody else.
You need to escalate this now and/or consider moving schools ASAP. He is actively being discriminated against. Does he have an EHCP?

What @June2008 said. I have just spent the morning marking mock exams, but we chose to use the 2018 paper. Normally we use the previous year's exam but as June correctly states, the mark schemes have not yet been released. In some subjects where there is a right & wrong answer, that probably doesn't matter. However, we would rather mark to the examiners' mark scheme to make the results as accurate as possible.

Why your DS' school leaves them so late is odd. We wanted to get a set of exams sat under proper exam conditions done in case of a further lockdown or repeat of last year's fiasco. I suspect many other schools think similarly. If by some miracle we stay open and exams are still going ahead, we will use the 2020 exam as a further practice paper in class.