Gcse 2021 anyone appealing?

[Cleanmean]

Dc has had a rubbish year, getting covid and being off school for ages (like many others). He's just got his results and is pleased but 2 of his grades are lower than his tracked grades and may mocks. He wants to appeal but I said it'll be impossible to appeal this year as teachers will have followed the protocols very carefully and there's less margins for error. Is anyone appealing this year and if so what do you think your chances are?

We have got our appeal done and the only sad thing is we have to send it to the school first.

I bet they write something against our appeal to send it onwards.

@whistlr

We have got our appeal done and the only sad thing is we have to send it to the school first.

I bet they write something against our appeal to send it onwards.

That’s not how a stage 2 appeal works. The school just upload the evidence to the exam board. There’s no added ‘speech’ or discussion. Purely the pupils evidence along with the schools policy (which the exam boards have already approved). It’s very impersonal and there’s no discussion between schools and exam boards.

@AngelPrint thx. Is that a copy of the actual evidence or just the list with grades for each?

The school has told everyone not to appeal. And even though we sent Friday am they haven't confirmed it's been sent. No reply to any emails.

We are still stuck at the subject request stage, school are refusing to supply any evidence stating they don't have to provide it this year due to legislation, but they won't tell us what that legislation is.

DD has had to enrol on a course at college she has no interest in, I'm not holding out much hope for the appeal to be successful (when we get to that stage) and I'm really worried about her future and her MH.

[quote whistlr]@AngelPrint thx. Is that a copy of the actual evidence or just the list with grades for each?

The school has told everyone not to appeal. And even though we sent Friday am they haven't confirmed it's been sent. No reply to any emails.[/quote]
For a stage 2 appeal we just upload what the exam board wants. Basically what work was used to grade the pupils:

Here is the AQA list of evidence we need to upload depending on the type of appeal.

There’s no ‘discussion’ at all. It’s very black and white and the exam board is only going to see if the grade the teacher set is reasonable. They will start from that grade and unless something is found to be unreasonable the grade will stand.

You may also find the guidance on the JCQ appeal form helpful:

www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/JCQ_Appeals-Guidance_Summer-2021_Appendix-B.pdf

And of course the overall guidance:

www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/JCQ_Appeals-Guidance_Summer-2021.pdf

The school CANNOT tell you not to appeal. Any pupil may appeal should they wish and the school may be investigated for malpractice if they don’t follow up and give options to appeals.

@AngelPrint Thx for your posts.

Our appeal for my DS is based on being unreasonable. This is very focussed on that. We had the individual evidence list from the school with the grades for each. It couldn't go down since the TAG was the lowest on the evidence and clearly wrong.

Otherwise, I have indeed uncovered frighteningly bad information that the school decided to calculate grades using an algorithm with weightings and that the class teachers had no part in the assessment other than the gathering of evidence phase. The final calculated results were them forced to fit close to the schools past results and this was the Teacher Assessed Grade.

The whole "don't appeal" issue is indeed there including the fact that the school completed the first stage prior to results for any A level students that it saw didn't make the grades for first choice at Uni. So when we asked a simple question for the first appeal stage, "Didn't he get another grade for the September Assessment" , the response was that they had already done a review and this stage was closed. A zoom call was conducted where my DS was told to not argue, accept the result and move on. Any appeal would be pointless and only risk lowering the result. When my DS asked to check the grade he had asked about in the appeal, they told him they couldn't go and check this and the review had been completed anyway.

Lots more issues which I will not go into now. Except to say once I get confirmation of the appeal being submitted by the school, I will begin publishing what I have to enable others to see what has being going on

My daughter had A level grades for uni but failed her GCSE maths yet again. This was mainly based on exam results from May. My issue is that she was diagnosed with Dyslexia Christmas 2020, with deficit working memory and slow handwriting speeds. School gave her no reasonable adjustments (except a reading pen) or any access Arrangements. They believe that by giving her reading pen for maths, they’ve acted appropriately, despite an Educational psychologist recommending 25% extra time. A pen does not read most signs or symbols nor can it read algebra, equations or diagrams. Nor does it help with working memory or slow handwriting. Appeal is now with exam body but she has worked so so hard to get her a levels. Apparently, a Dyslexic brain has to work 6 times harder, so I am so proud that she has got the grades (ABD) with no support from school. Her psychologist was not at all surprised that she had difficulty with maths and I believe that because the school have not acted within Equality Act 2010 that she was at a distinct disadvantage. Of course they disagree!!!
They lent her the pen from February but she wasn’t even aware it was a reasonable adjustment
She’s obviously devastated cos she desperately wanted to take up her firm offer. Not having maths means she cannot do what she wants anywhere. What do you think her chances of appeal are? Uni are holding her place for now

I have big sympathy for those whose schools didn’t give the access arrangements students were meant to have……however, I also wonder why parents didn’t check what was in place/being applied when they knew exams wouldn’t be sat, but schools would carry out assessments. I don’t quite understand why after a first assessment, parents wouldn’t have asked their kids about extra time etc, and then contacted school if it hadn’t been given. This same scenario if the special access arrangements not being properly applied could have equally have happened in a normal exam system, and there wouldn’t have been a way to appeal grades then based on that.

Cerys max, I can see how upsetting it must be when she’s got the A Levels needed and it’s a lower level qualification which is holding her back. The fact she got the A Level grades without the extra time being applied, might also suggest it wasn’t so important and perhaps Maths just is her weak subject. So frustrating if it’s holding her back from proceeding to the next stage though and I hope she’s able to get it or something equivalent that can be accepted.

I’m not sure appeals can really be based on access arrangements not being applied when the assessed work was undertaken. Adjusting for this would be very arbitrary, plus I think it is the schools discretion to describe what to apply for based on Ed psych report and the Ed psych report in itself isn’t a right to any access arrangement. Of course, most school will do what the report says (unless you’re talking about a report which is very old….a case can be made some of the recommendations are no longer relevant) but again, I think there is some onus on parents to make sure these things are put in place, whether they relate to provision in lessons, or in assessments in class or formal exams. It seems to too late to only realise and comment on the school not doing this in late August, when the lack of applying the arrangements should have been clear months before. Sorry, but I know it’s not what you want to hear. I’m not a SENCO or exams officer, so Incoukdnt say categorically if this could be grounds for appeal, but I just don’t feel this is what the appeals process is about.

Wombatchocolate, the issue being that we weren’t aware how to approach this beforehand. However, I contacted the school in February about her maths and psychologist’s comments and said I needed to send them her form 8 for RA etc. They said they didn’t need or want it because, as an exam centre they can make their own arrangements
I recently discovered that this is not true. They are supposed to discuss with students and parents re adjustments and they didn’t. Again, not something I was aware of. I’m pretty new to this. I’ve had 6 months to find out things so no, we didn’t question it. However, I think you’re forgetting that schools are not exempt from Disability Act. We had no guidance. A reasonable adjustment is supposed to take account of proof, the subject and individual needs. It is clear that the pen would be of no use. And the fact that she got good a levels has no bearing that she struggles with maths. Over the years, without knowing why she struggled, she developed learning techniques to help herself but she couldn’t adapt such techniques to help her in maths, not surprising!!!
The school were under a duty to guide both her and me. They failed and you cannot blame the parent for not knowing the process, especially when they haven’t had years to learn what can and can’t be done

Ps/not to mention that her other grades had the weighting on coursework, not timed. Maths was heavily on exams with no exam conditions (another student from another class wondered in, sat down and started talking on phone to his mum). Another student left room due to disruption saying ‘this is ridiculous’!

When it comes to access arrangements we trusted the school to do the right thing, our mistake! Her keyworker had mentioned many times "exam arrangements" without going into detail and as he has been so supportive of her condition in every other aspect I assumed everything was above board.

I mean is it normal for parents to contact the school demanding to know exact access arrangements or do most parents trust that the school know what they are doing having done it for so many years and for so many other students.

Or as @cerysmax stated - you cannot blame the parent for not knowing the process, especially when they haven’t had years to learn what can and can’t be done

I agree that schools should implement access arrangements. Of course they should be diligent and do this. Is it the case though, that only in August you have realised they didn’t do this…..what made you aware of the issue in August, rather than in April etc?
The question is, whether this is grounds for appeal over grades, several months later. This year, schools could include a wide range of evidence from across the course. They will have done assessments after Easter, but they will have also looked at evidence from earlier in the course (didn’t all need to be done in exam conditions).

I think you have to consider carefully if there is plenty of evidence of your DD working at the higher grade level consistently through the course. This is the crux of the matter, rather than individual pieces of work. To award specific grades this year, there has to be evidence of working at that level and grades cannot be based on what someone might have done in a terminal exam.
I understand the Maths grade is disappointing and a barrier to progression to the next stage and the A Level results have been pleasing, but these things alone don’t warrant a higher grade in GCSE Maths. Given what you say about her not having passed before and the difficult year she has had because of Covid and lockdown (like many, but not in itself grounds for anyone to appeal their grade) could it just be the case, that her Maths level just isn’t what it needed to be to pass? Also bear in mind that schools have been extremely generous this year. They don’t want to deny students grades as they do want to do well by the students and poor grades reflect badly on the school itself. Especially around the pass/fail boundary of 3/4 schools have been extremely generous snd given the benefit of the doubt wherever they could this year, as it posts their headline figures. I just say these things to help you consider if you are focusing on this issue about access arrangements as really being the root of the disappointing grade, or if there are other causes for it……..to consider too if there are actually grounds for appeal within the formal appeal process.
Sadly, lots of children have lost out this year in all kinds of ways. Their work and grades have been affected by all kinds of things which are directly or indirectly related to the Covid year. Most of these things won’t be grounds for appeal and there are very narrowly defined grounds for it. Lots of people start off disappointed with grades and determined to appeal and when they look into it more, realise that they have no grounds for it.
You might still decide that you do have grounds for it and the process includes the issues you mention. If that’s the case, then go for it and very best of luck. In my experience, schools have no problem with it because a successful appeal boosts the results for the student and also boosts the school results. You have to remember within this, that they don’t set out to keep anyone’s grades low but want the highest grades and to allow students to progress to the next stage. No doubt they will have been very aware that the 3 in Maths would hinder your DD getting onto her uni course and will have likely agonised over it….but in the end, had to give the grade that the evidence justified.

I really hope you don’t feel I am putting ‘blame’ on you. I’m trying to be helpful. Disappointment and the causes of lower grades than hoped for, often makes people look to blame and seek to challenge. Sometimes it’s right to appeal and the system will allow it becaus the circumstances have been wrong, as defined by the appeal process, but often, it has simply been the case that the level given is where the child was.

At DDs school, an ex maths teacher was brought in specifically to assist with TAG. She said that as DD had shown the skills and knowledge to work at 4/5, that’s what her TAG would be and then they decided to use exams
I think my dd got a little confused as to what was happening. She thought everything would be okay and, although they then went to exams, believed she had demonstrated her ability. She identified problems during her exams but, due to her MH, did not want to rock the boat….believing she would pas following from her teacher’s comments
Yes, we’re very disappointed by her grade. Firstly, I had spoken to school about RA and EAA and was assured, secondly my daughter was told something that just didn’t happen, thirdly the school did not follow their own policy on MH, fourthly an exam that does not have exam conditions cannot be called an exam and they should not be heavily reliant on such results and finally, I have not had time to become an expert on SEN. The school should know the process and follow it. They failed, despite me keeping them updated on dd dyslexia. She has a record of anxiety and panic attacks at school. It’s only now, that I have been aware of what the school should have put in place. You trust the school to do the right thing and they quite obviously didn’t. How can you hold a student and parent responsible for school a) omitting to follow own MH policy and b) failing to act within Disability Act.
Yes, I feel August is perfect time to appeal as we were not aware of school’s obligations and it is quite clear that they failed to carry out these obligations
Children do not come with a manual. It’s a learning process. I don’t feel I have failed my child but the school have. It is their job to support SEN and to guide parents and students on the process. I don’t see why dd should be held accountable for their obvious failings

All very valid reasons for feeling the school let you down.
Do you think the acceptable terms for appealing (ie those laid out which are acceptable reasons which can lead to a successful appeal) are there? There is a difference between that and the much bigger list of things a school might have done to let your child done. That’s the point really…there’s a difference, and all kinds of grievance might be entirely valid, but are not grounds for appealing a teacher assessed grade.

Schools were asked to use evidence from across the course. They were asked to give more weight to later pieces. They were told not to tell students what their grade or likely grade would be. Assessments didn’t need to be exams (in fact formal exam conditions were not to be replicated…ie totally unknown content in timed conditions which could be full papers from the full course) and so sitting papers, where conditions were not formal exam conditions and people came in and out would have been acceptable. Schools did different things…and that was fine this year too - some did timed unseen work on specific topics, some told students questions in advance to prepare for, some gave more time than would have been given in the exam, some used 20 pieces of evidence to base their judgements on, whilst some used 5 etc etc….all of these things were acceptable. Internal reviews will have happened of the grades and as I said, around the 3/4 boundary, schools will have looked very carefully at the evidence and that’s where a lot of the grade inflation will have happened. Far more students will have got the 4 instead of 3 this year than usual.

A ground for appeal is special circumstances that the school didn’t know about before. If your DD had MH issues and the school didnt know about them, and you can evidence them now, that can be a ground for special consideration. It also helps if you can produce the work she did earlier which was graded at the higher level.

In most cases of disappointment, there isn’t a genuine case for appeal. However, clearly there will be some where there is. You need to really get to grips with the process and acceptable basis for a successful appeal and focus on that, rather than the myriad of ways the school has let her down, which might not be grounds for appeal. Best wishes in progressing with this.

@WombatChocolate The teacher brought in to assist with TAG was subsequently released once school decided on exams. This meant there were no classes April onwards
I DO feel there are good grounds for appeal. I have studied both JVQ and school policy and procedure. I have studied Equality Act. There is no doubt that the school acted outside these parameters. There would have been no problem in dd demonstrating skills and knowledge for 4/5 (she did) and EAA put in place should have allowed her to demonstrate this knowledge and skills in a different way from timed exams/assessments or allowed arrangements that did not put her at a distinct disadvantage This did not happen
The school are also trying to justify use of a c-pen as RA when these are specifically a text to speech aid and, as explained before, do not support maths, slow handwriting or working memory deficit
The school also are supposed to use recent evidence where possible and, due to her diagnosis should have put more weight on what her teacher said…not on timed assessments
Finally the school, in all the years that she attended, did not once indicate that she had possible SEN but it WAS picked up by an external body within a couple of months. The school then carried out tests, agreed it was a strong possibility and recommended she be formally diagnosed by an Educational psychologist. This, they said, would protect her, in law, with FE and employment!! It seems inconceivable that they would say this and then ignore findings/recommendations themselves!!
My daughter has submitted DSAR and I have made a formal complaint to school. I fully believed that the school would take all concerns seriously and act appropriately. I do not accept your reasoning that she was only worth a 3 if her teacher stated she was working at 4/5. There is obviously something very wrong here. Factor in that school have failed to act on findings (obviously knowing Dyslexia is protected under Disability Act ie/ recommending we get a psychologist on board to ‘protect her’), how can a 3 be justified?
DD was not asking for an advantage (although it is not unlawful to give students an advantage…it is however unlawful to disadvantage them), but all she wanted/needed was to be put on a level playing field with her peers. If that isn’t grounds for an appeal then God help us all!!
By your reasoning, special consideration is valid grounds for appeal but surely parent, student, school are away of the issue at time of assessment? Why is this any different? School did not take into account special problems eg/ mental health, bereavement and parent did not complain at time about support school was giving yet a parent of SEN should have complained at time? To me, this is not a logical answer

Great - if you’ve checked it all out and the things you mention are listed as valid grounds for appeal, then you have a valid case. That’s all you need to know isnt it…do your complaints fit within the remit of the appeals process and criteria.

They will rigidly apply the defined criteria of what is needed for an appeal to be upheld and if your appeal meets those criteria you might get a higher grade. If your complaints about the school (however accurate they are) don’t meet the criteria for making or upholding appeals, then it won’t get anywhere.

There is also the option to take the exam in the autumn. I’m sure your DD doesn’t want to do that, but you might consider looking into having her entered for it, in case the appeal doesn’t come off.

Best wishes with it all.

My DD was disappointed with the score in one of her subjects as she had been given a 9 in the December mock (which was used as evidence) and was hoping for an 8, based on this and other assessments she’d done. She was given a 7 and asked how the final grade was calculated.

She was told that the grade was based on a combined mark of all the assessments and that the boundaries for the different grades were determined by the results gained in previous years. So if 10% of pupils at the school traditionally got a 9, then the top 10% of scores would get a 9 this year.

My understanding was that the grade would be given and then previous years grade distributions would be just used as a check to make sure that the grades allocated were in line with previous years (or if they were higher/lower then an explanation would need to be given). But this suggests that previous grade distributions, from previous cohorts, were used as the basis of the score rather than a final check. This doesn’t seem right, from reading the JCQ guidance.

I don’t know whether to bring it up with the school or just let it go. I feel she deserved a higher grade but maybe we should just accept it’s been an unusual year (and v difficult for teachers and pupils alike) and move on and focus on A Levels.

@Sparklefish99 if you feel that the grade would profoundly affect her future eg/ she couldn’t follow her chosen path, then I believe it’s worth a try. If it won’t make any difference then why put the family through such stress?
My understanding is that schools should use the most recent evidence be that tests, coursework etc and not rely on data from years past. That wouldn’t make any sense

To use previous grade distributions like this, is essentially using an algorithm. Schools were told not to do it.

Most will have unofficially looked at past distributions of grades and then been more generous this year, but kept in mind previous distributions....because to be ridiculously generous could attract attention and scrutiny of their results.

It is not acceptable to justify an individual grade this year, with ref to past distributions. If your child’s work was X grade, they should have been given that, no matter how many others did or didn’t perform at that level.

Do you have it in writing that they gave this as a reason?

It is really difficult to understand how grades were reached and the overall is meant to be a holistic judgement rather than each piece counts for x% or they are averaged. However a grade needs to be evidenced consistently, so performing at the higher level in one piece isn’t good enough.

I would query with the school whether grades weee allocated based on past performance of school. They are unlikely to formally say yes to this, as schools were told not to do this and it calls into question all their grades and not just your DC. But if they do, it could be grounds for appeal.

You can ask which work was used as evidence. The thing is, as there were no grade boundaries this year, it is difficult for parents or students to be able say ‘that was a grade 8 piece’ but if all the work submitted was very high percentages and if I’m previous years much or all of it would have been higher grades, there could be a case if alongside having wrongly used previous years’ distributions.

Talking to them further can only help - if only in understanding further why the grade was given and coming to terms with it.

Best wishes deciding what to do.

Schools could choose any evidence from within the GCSE or A Level course. They were asked to include recent evidence and take more notice, but earlier work from L6 and autumn term of U6 could well be used.

The fact a grade is hindering them moving to next stage, in itself of course isn’t grounds for appeal. It is more likely to make people decide to ‘have a go’ but unless the criteria for a successful appeal (all laid out to ensure robust appeals system) are met, grades cannot go up.

The system has 2 stages. The first makes clear procedural errors must have taken place. Talking to the school about this first is encouraged and at this point most disappointed families decide not to appeal....because most schools followed the right approach. Most were really very careful to do it right and not be open to challenge - not so they could be mean, but actually most were very generous overall - the grade inflation shows this. So it is about procedure and it isn’t the case that work is re-marked etc. Much of the evidence used is no longer in the hands of the school but earlier work from pre Lockdown 2 is likely to have been returned to students (which is fine and to be expected). This appeals process isn’t like the exams appeals where there are re-marks. It’s just not possible here because all schools approached it differently and grades based on numerous pieces of evidence which together informed the decision. It was a teacher judgement informed by evidence, not a rigid x-marks=x grade. Appeal is therefore very difficult and can only be about procedure of reaching the decisions.

@WombatChocolate Thank you, this is really helpful. I do have it in writing although obviously differs from their stated policy of a taking a holistic approach etc. I will speak to them further, really just to understand it better which hopefully would make it easier for my DD to accept her grade.

I’ve had a bit more time to reflect now and although I’m not happy, and feel disappointed for the Year 11s that all of their hard work has been marred by uncertainty over the validity of the process and so their grades, I don’t think I want to appeal (which probably wouldn’t change anything anyway). I’d rather draw a line under a very difficult year and focus on the positives of starting a new stage.

This isn't GCSE but A-level. Having first said we wouldn't appeal our daughter's grade, we got the data set from the school which has made us wonder whether we should.
She had a pretty poor year 12, but her Year13 tests got her A, B, B, A* and A - all in locked papers under test conditions. She was given a B, but would appreciate hearing anyone working in a school to hear if that sounds too low, or is just how things work out?
As I understand it, schools were advised to leave it as late as possible in the school year to award a grade so it's based on grades actually being achieved at the time (and not looking back or trying to project forward).

grateful for any advice - DS has a disability (he attends a mainstream school) and has always had extra time and adapted keyboard for tests etc since primary school.
In year 9 the SENCo removed his extra time - but didn't tell us and we didn't find out until end of year 10. We got DS physio and occ therapist to re-confirm to school that he needed extra time as he struggles even with adapted keyboard to write/type quickly enough, but due to lock-down etc we didn't get this until Jan 2021.
As part of the TAG his school included lots of work and tests where he didn't get extra time and this has really pulled his grades down. We appealed as we know from his mocks (done with extra time and keyboard etc) what he can do with the right adjustments.
School have basically blamed us/DS for not getting confirmation that he needed extra time and said that as it didn't have anything saying he was permitted to have extra time it doesn't have to take this account or use his mocks for his TAGs. It feels a lot like disability discrimination to me but I would really appreciate your view.