2022 A level exams + self-isolating help please

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At the moment as I understand it, the guidance is that (regardless of whether or not you have chosen to be vaccinated) if you are under 18 you don't have to self-isolate if someone in your household gets Covid - so you can still go to school.

What do you think would happen though if you turned 18 just before your A'levels, someone in your household (not you) got Covid and you were unvaccinated. Would you have to isolate because you were over 18 and unvaccinated and then risk not being able to sit your A' evel exams, which are (at the moment at least) going ahead this year, or would some kind of alternative provision be made? The school say they can't give me any answers at the moment.

Asking for a 17 year old family member who has, against my advice, decided to remain unvaccinated. I just want to give the family member all the facts, although I recognise there are no certainties at the moment. Just wondering if anyone out there, maybe who works in education, might have a hunch as to what might happen?

Please no comments about whether or not you agree with the decision not to be vaccinated. Just helpful thoughts about what would likely happen with this family member's exams in these circumstances please.

Thanks.

Your family member needs to consult the exam boards.

It's 18 yrs and 6 months if that makes a difference to the situation?

I'm not sure there would be any special allowance. As I understand it, A levels have been scheduled to have at least a week between each paper in a single subject, so hopefully would only miss one. A grade can still be awarded on this basis.

My vocational students have had exams this week. Some were self isolating and just missed it and have to sit in the summer instead. It stinks in my opinion and is massively unfair but there's no back up plan, amazingly!

Thanks Geogie - the gov guidance I've seen says under 18 years, but maybe there's one that slightly different for schools? Do you have the link?

See line thanks - so are you saying that a teacher assessed grade would likely be awarded if a student had to self-isolate and missed an exam?

Pinkflask - gosh I'm surprised at no back up plan, esp considering how prevalent Covid is at the mo.

Ah it used to say 18 plus 6 but maybe changed when 16/17 became eligible for a second dose. Before that, it gave time for the newly turned 18 year olds to get vaccinated.

I suspect by the summer there won't be isolation any more.

But I would ask what usually happens if someone is sick (non Covid) on an exam day? It must happen that people have appendicitis etc and there must be some procedure for them to take it, they don't just wait another year!

Not TAGs no. Usually if students miss an exam, a grade can be given on the basis of the other two papers. I thought I had seen something about alternative arrangements for this year, but can't find it at the moment.

I suspect it will either be the papers that are already sat (if more than one) or they will use a teacher assessed grade based on mocks - but there are a load of rules about how these need to be done.

The exam boards have timetabled the exams so that papers in the same subject are at least 10 days apart. This means that if a student misses one paper, they will have some work completed under exam conditions. Their mark will be extrapolated from this assessed work. It is not confirmed but highly unlikely that they would therefore use any data collected through the TAG contingency process in this case.