Will IGCSEs go ahead

[Summertime2]

Anyone on here with a child taking international GCSEs in the uk and have any info as to whether they will go ahead in June?

We have been told by the school that they are not cancelled. Rather worried about this as it will very much disadvantage these uk kids who've missed so much teaching when they are lumped in with all the many more international students who have been taught as normal - and then examined as if the same...

@NotDonna

Has she left the thread? 👀 Can we come back out and continue the conversation? I’ve no idea what that was about or why her odd posts were deleted. Nothing made much sense & I had thought I’d tried. Anyway, still no news here. I’m still expecting they’ll be cancelled. DD just wants to get decent grades that will reflect her abilities. As I expect we all do!

That was really bizarre.

School said today that they are expecting igcses and Cambridge A levels to go ahead. They only do English Lit at A level, so dd is being prepared to take it.

They only do Cambridge A level English lit

They do plenty of other 'normal A levels!!

DD gets her English and Science iGCSE grades next week, so worried about it.

I think the bemused lady's first language may not have been English.

Is your DD happy about that?
My DD1 is doing regular A levels but DD2 has 6 out of 10 iGCSEs - school haven’t mentioned it at all. They are still doing work as planned /curriculum, which seems sensible. DD is working hard but no longer revising per se. I think she’ll be a bit miffed if exams go ahead but I think she’s lucky in that she’ll do ok either way. I still think there’ll be outrage at the ‘private schools get to do exams’ and thus there’ll be a political push to pull them in U.K. but let’s see.

Sorry, should really gather my thoughts and get them all on one post.
DD's head wants the iGCSEs to go ahead in summer, claiming the students want this...they don't. I suspect the head is thinking of the extra workload involved in assessments and the schools current issues recruiting staff.

School had a q and a yesterday and said gcse and igcse students should carry on revising as normal.

Dd is stressed!

But private schools get to do exams

I won't beleaguer the point that they aren't all private schools. But why is it seen as an advantage to take the exams? Are the certificates actually going to say this student took an actual exam? All people are going to see are the grades on the paper.

Yes, not sure people will see it as an advantage will they? Dd certainly doesn't!!

What’s confusing me is if the boards have a say in any of this? So your DD doing Cambridge A level English - can the govt insist that she does CAGs? And if so, do the board then have to assist schools with the assessment? If ofqual don’t have any jurisdiction over the international exams? I really don’t have a clue how it all works.

@NotDonna

What’s confusing me is if the boards have a say in any of this? So your DD doing Cambridge A level English - can the govt insist that she does CAGs? And if so, do the board then have to assist schools with the assessment? If ofqual don’t have any jurisdiction over the international exams? I really don’t have a clue how it all works.

Govt can't insist, no, because if the Cambridge exams run as normal all over the world then they'll expect uk to be the same.

Sorry susanna I realise a few state schools do them but because they are a minority I’m using a sweeping statement as the media will do. Apologies all the same. So your DD has done some already? In November? Is that because she was given poor CAGs last summer?
I totally agree with you btw. I don’t consider it an advantage either. Unless, of course, what they put in place is a total mess and downgrades students. Then it could be seen to be an advantage. No one has any confidence in Williamson and there’s a call on another thread for govt to do another U turn & reinstate the modified exams. So some people do think there’s an advantage to sitting them rather than risking CAGs. I’m not sure either way. I think both are risky. Are all your DDs GCSEs i’s? Or a mix?

@NotDonna

She's early entry, this is her first attempt. She has also taken maths this sitting too, but that is a GCSE with a different board.

Sorry missed your last question. She is sitting the rest of her exams in the summer, she has a mix of Cambridge iGCSE and GCSE (2 different boards), the GCSEs are assessment based.

Hope she gets the results she wants next week Susanna and then she’ll have a few under her belt. Ours just do the one sitting in summer. Thank heavens. Once is stressful enough.

@NotDonna

Thank you
She got her maths GCSE today and the grade she really wanted. Not so confident about next week's iGCSEs.

Yeah!!! 👏🏻👏🏻And fingers crossed for next week!

Not cancelled here as of today.

Reluctantly commenting. Would appreciate my comment not being reported to HQ as offensive.

Also sadly not drunk. Just endlessly marking various homework and coursework likely until 2am. Just in case. What a trio of bullies.

@NotDonna @SusannaSpider

I believe your comments were deleted because they repeatedly told people to "fuck off", happilybemused. And then you had the temerity to call people "massive bullies" when they objected.

I hope your treat your students better than that. If, indeed, you are a teacher as you claim

We’ve been emailed by school tonight with the advice to continue booking for exams as they believe that they will go ahead

I think it’s really unhelpful and unhealthy to misdirect this thread, I’ve seen no evidence of bullying at all just concerned parents discussing a situation that is causing anxiety for our kids

@NotDonna hope you’re ok, we’ve talked on another thread and you’ve never come across as anything other than friendly to me

Thank you TomNook
In our weekly newsletter from the head he has said that at the moment iGCSEs are going ahead but a two pronged approach (ie, teacher assessments & exams) wouldn’t be great. He worded it much better, but you get the gist. He added that it was still early days. This suggests our school isn’t too happy with the situation so maybe they’ll do teacher assessment for them instead. Would the boards permit that though? As they’ll have to work with schools re the mini exams etc which would be extra work for them?
Reading the consultation doc last night on the gov site, it talks about private candidates still being able to sit exams - they’re talking about GCSEs A levels et al so they couldn’t pull iGCSEs on that basis could they?

What I’m really confused about is what a achool can do or can’t who do for their IGCSE candidates. Can they as a school decide want to use CAGs and not make their pupils sit exams? Or if the boards insist exams are going ahead the schools have no other choice but to make their pupils take them? Does anyone know? Thanks all! My dd is taking 8 igcse’s in summer and it’s all very confusing!