Info: what if your child gets covid during exams?

[noblegiraffe]

The procedure for what should happen if your child gets covid during exam season is here: www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/secondary/exams-2022-what-happens-if-pupils-miss-exams-covid-19

"Specifically, if a student is unwell with coronavirus and has to miss their exam, then a JCQ self-certification form 14 needs to be completed.
This form should be given to the student and parents or carers to be filled out by both the student and the parent or carer, and then returned so that it can be verified by the school or college (referred to as the "centre") before being submitted* *to the relevant exam board as part of the special consideration application.
The form can be filled out on a computer, however, the signature must be handwritten and electronic signatures will not be accepted.
Although there won't be an expectation for you to provide any proof that you have contracted Covid-19, the DfE does suggest taking a photograph of a positive test result if that is possible"

If a student misses exams, so long as they have completed 25% of the assessment they can still be awarded a grade based on the exams they have sat.

This is the same process as for other illnesses.

Re covid isolation, the DfE says

"I have taken a COVID-19 test under the direction of my GP and have a positive test result, what should I do?
The UKHSA guidance is that you stay at home and avoid contact with others for 3 days (if 18 and under) or 5 days (if 19 or older) after the day you took the test.
Your centre will ask you to self-certify the reason for absence using Form 14. You are not required to provide proof of a test but could keep a record of the test, such as a photograph, as evidence if it is available.
Your centre will then submit an online application for special consideration to the relevant awarding bodies using the category ‘absent candidate’"

educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/04/12/everything-you-need-to-know-about-covid-measures-during-exams-this-summer/

25% of the assessment is interesting, especially as most GCSEs and many A levels don't have coursework.
If they miss an exam, they'll be okay if they only miss one. If they're ill and miss both, they get nothing.

That's why the exams are more spaced out this year. There's supposed to be at least 10 days between exams for the same subject giving students time to recover.

I don't know about other subjects, but with maths the exams are rather spread out this year (most years tbh). I think there are 4 weeks between the first and last maths GCSE exams, so you would have to be very unwell to miss all 3 of them.
Does anyone know about other subjects?

We did have someone one year who missed 2 of his maths exams because of illness (I think he had his appendix taken out and was recovering), and he still got a grade based on the one exam he did.

All of mine are broken up by half term. It's going to be a very long series!

Thank you Noble for that information. It is very helpful.

I've got Ds down as having maths paper 5 Tuesday 7th June and paper 6 Monday 13th June so fairly close together. The rest of them are fairly well spaced out. Ds hasn't even seen some of his February mock papers, even in class as they have been locked away to use as evidence if needed. Same with his November papers.

@OnTheBenchOfDoom does he not have a maths exam on the 20th May as well? That is when the first exam is for most exam boards for Maths, then again on 7th as you say.

@bbn81 Yes he does have maths on the 20th May but the other 2 are close together. Most of the other exams are spread out. This is my second child going through it and we still have Ds1's exam timetable for comparison.

I was very confused before realising this is just for GCSE and A level.

Place marking. In case. Thanks

@noblegiraffe slightly off piste but do you know what happens if someone can't complete a practical exam for medical reasons - think along the lines of a violinist with a broken wrist when about to do the recorded practical for music A level.

Not sure. I asked a kid today who has missed part of his GCSE PE practical due to injury and he said they just estimated a grade for him for that component based on previous performance. Check with the school!

Thank you - will do but wanted to have some idea of what to expect first....

This is interesting to read. My DC is taking Highers. Each subject is only 2 papers totalling 3 hours and both on the same day. So if you're ill, you miss both papers on the same subject.

Seems very different to my A levels (30 years ago!) and to English exams today. Do A levels have more papers, as seems to be the case from this thread?

Some exams consist of coursework and exam - thinking of say DT. What happens if you have done the coursework and miss the exam? How do you think they assess this?