Rest breaks for GCSES

[vbnm89]

My DD suffers from exam anxiety. She in year 11 and on her 3rd set of mocks, she gets so stressed out and doesn't eat or sleep during exam periods. She is capable of 8's and 9's but as she panics and doesn't write much she has been predicted 5's and 6's which is just about enough to get her on to a BTEC. Therefore I have told her these don't matter too much because they are more a practice for how they work rather than the actual grades, but she is still stressed out by the whole procedure.

The last round in January they sat her at the back of the hall which she much preferred and also allowed her rest breaks when needed. Today she was sat at the front of the hall and not given rest breaks which made her more anxious as she had no option to leave the hall.

I have just phoned the school and last time round as the exams were in house they could give her rest breaks but as she has no significant SEN she will not be entitled to rest breaks for the real GCSE's and if she was entitled she has to use them. In the last lot of mocks just knowing there was an option to leave if necessary was all she needed and actually she only took the rest breaks in 2 out of 18 exams. Often when she is in the moment of writing and thinking she doesn't need them but other times she will. It isn't that I don't believe the school but if this is the case I worry she will worry even more.

I am cross that I have only found out now that she will not get these breaks for the real exams.

She is absolutely scared stiff of 16 more exams without no option to leave if she needs it. I thought these rest breaks (just knowing she could leave if necessary) were going to make it so much easier for her.

Just wanted to check that the school is right and is it worth me appealing or is it set in stone that the rest breaks HAVE to be used. If this is so it is no good because she doesn't need them all the time and knowing she has to use them is just as stressful as not having them at all!!

Even with rest breaks they cannot leave, they just 'stop the clock'.

OP who did you speak to at the school?
Rest Breaks are centre delegated so don't need the same sort of evidence as something like extra time. So if they have evidence of her anxiety and proof that rest breaks are her normal way of working then that should be enough. You need to speak to the SENCo as they are the expert in this.
If your dd prefers sitting at the back then speak to the exams officer as they will do seating.

She wouldn’t be able to “leave” though. That could result in cheating. The exam board won’t allow that. Maybe ask what provision they can make instead.

Presumably the OP means leave for a supervised break rather than just walk out. My dd has rest breaks so will sometimes just shut her paper and other times go for a walk round the playground with an invigilator or TA.

Dd had a separate room and rest breaks. It took a lot of paperwork including statements from her psychiatrist and therapist. She's multiple diagnosis

The school have to submit to the exam board who make the decision

You will need a consultant letter confirming diagnosis.

@gogohm

The school have to submit to the exam board who make the decision

No they don't, not for rest breaks.

The info about who qualifies for rest breaks is detailed on page 29 of this document.

www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/AA_regs_21-22_FINAL.pdf

Your DD would presumably qualify under social, emotional and mental health needs.

A pupil can leave the exam room during rest breaks, they just need to be accompanied by an invigilator. A consultant letter isn’t necessary either.

Rest breaks just need a SENDCo ‘note’ on file and evidence of need. No application to AAO or the Boards is needed for RB’s.

Yes they can leave the exam room if supervised at all times and no discussion of the exam etc. However that is up to the school and we don’t allow ours to leave the room - it is possible though.

I am an exams officer and work with our SENDCo and we have lots of students on rest breaks.

@gogohm

Dd had a separate room and rest breaks. It took a lot of paperwork including statements from her psychiatrist and therapist. She's multiple diagnosis

Rest breaks and separate rooms are both ‘centre decisions’ and need no application to the boards or paperwork from specialists now.

It may have been different if this was some years ago for your DD but these two things are the schools decision only.

The problem is that if she doesn’t use them during her mocks, there is no evidence that she will need the provision during the main exam. If she uses them in several exams, there is a clear need established and therefore she can be granted them for the main exams.
Provision of rest breaks, especially if she is likely to need to leave the exam room, might require an extra invigilator to be employed for instance.

My dd is now at university, she had 25% extra time, one rest break per hour, room on her own and was allowed tea (not sure that was in writing) I know she had an letter because we had to submit a copy to the university to prove what had be authorised for a levels

I am not thinking about how to manage it wondering why she has exam anxiety? Is she generally anxious? Does she feel it’s the end of the world if she doesn’t pass? I think it’s normal to feel anxious about exams, you need a certain amount of anxiety to propel you. Wouldn’t it be better to try and get on top of the anxiety rather than enabling it because when she gets into the world of work no employer is going to make allowances or give rest breaks. What about when she takes her driving test? Sorry if this seems harsh but I am just thinking it would be better for her if you could get to the root cause of her anxiety now rather than later, otherwise that anxiety will just attach itself to the next hurdle in her life.

But they document says the candidate must have an impairment which has a substantial and long term effect (wording which mirrors the definition of disability in the equality act) so the Ops dd surely wouldn’t qualify without a diagnosis.

And how does this sit with the new rules that you have to have two impairments in order to access extra time?

My DS is in Year 11. He is currently sitting mocks and has developed school anxiety since last year.
He is sitting his mocks in a small room with other children with differing needs.

He has been told he can take a rest break in the room. The school said he will take his GCSEs in the same way as this is his (now) typical way of working.

A candidate on a supervised rest break absolutely can leave the room if they need to (accompanied by an invigilator).

You need to speak to the SENCo and Exams Officer.

I'm an invigilator and today I had 10 children out of 12 who could have rest breaks (it's a bit of a nightmare for invigilators to keep track of - extra time was much easier).
If they all decided they wanted to go for a walk there would be nobody to go with them. We have 1 "float" invigilator for the smaller rooms who takes people to the toilet. There is no capacity for anyone to leave the room for a rest break and we have never been told that is an option.
In our school a rest break is where they sit back for a bit after telling the invigilator when they want to stop/start and the time is added on to the end. They are not allowed the toilet in rest break time - they have to do that in exam time.

Page 30 if that document sets out very clearly that rest breaks are not permitted unless the candidate qualifies as disabled under the equality act and that two below average standardised scores are required. I personally think that’s challengable legally since it goes further than the equality act, but it is currently the rule. There’s no way that exam anxiety qualifies

Page 30 requirements are for extra time, not rest breaks.

But the category of mental health requires a substantial impairment as per the equality act

I shall be delighted if I’m wrong because ds1 has been told he can’t have rest breaks because although he scores well below average for writing speed because of an issue with his hand, he scores above average on the other tests and he has to have below average in two categories

User you don’t need 2 impairments to qualify for rest breaks. Page 30 is about 25% extra time. Pg 29 is about rest breaks and the rules aren’t as you state. Even for extra time below average standardised scores are only relevant where a Form 8 is needed, not for all extra time applications. Although for speed of writing word processing/speech to text software would be considered before extra time

You also don’t need a diagnosis to be covered by the Equality Act and classed as having a disability. source The guidance states "It is not necessary for the cause of the impairment to be established, nor does the impairment have to be the result of an illness."

Following on from my other post - I've checked the JCQ guidelines and they can leave the room if supervised. However from my experience most of the children entitled to extra time/rest breaks or who feel overwhelmed in a big exam room, do their exams in a smaller room with 1 invigilator and 1 spare outside. That's why I said it wouldn't be practical for multiple people to leave the room.
In our main exam hall we have lots of invigilators and it is a lot easier to supervise them out of the hall for a few minutes, but unfortunately the ones needing the rest breaks are usually not in the hall. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation really.

Get a meeting with the SENDCO and head of year. Push for what she needs.