What happens if you don't go to a GCSE exam

[notanothercheesesandwich]

Are there consequences to not attending GCSE exams (other than an ungraded mark)? My DS is in yr11 and about to start his exams. He has had ongoing issues at school and is on the SEN register. We asked at the beginning of the year to drop history as due to teacher clashes and his SEN he hadn't attended hardly any lessons in Y10. School refused dropping a subject as no specific diagnosis. He has attended some lessons (about 20%) due to a change in teacher this year but has still missed the majority. His SEN makes writing answers to exam questions very difficult (anything over a couple of sentences) - just gets overwhelming anxiety at getting the right answer and then doesn't write anything! We have all accepted that he won't pass, I would rather he didn't waste his time (and anxiety) attending 3 exams and used the time to prepare for the core ones that are also going to be a challenge- especially English as you can imagine.

Would he be disciplined in some way? Could we be fined? It is so frustrating as we have tried asking for him not to do it but school have been strangely insistent even though it won't look good on their stats. I am in a dilemma because if we now ask school again for him not to go we couldn't go with the sick option on the day.

I guess you could offer to pay for the exam fee. It is about £60.

I don't think there would be any punishment though.

Is he getting any help due to SEN in the exams?

You would have to phone in sick on three separate days while he attended exams in between - it would be obvious.

The school may charge you the exam entry fee.

£60 is a bargain to get rid of anxiety over a sitting through an exam they won’t pass.
my son is due to sit a gcse exam he only has a chance of getting a 3 in if he studies really hard, otherwise it is a 2 at best. What is the point? He has autism, and is anxious. There is zero point in putting him through it. We are asking to withdraw him this week, if not we will pay the £60 if We hey charge us.

Toomuchlaundry - only small room.

Lessof.../noble, yes being charged is what I would like to avoid, (we have tried asking not to do it. Sendiass think it is crazy they have let him drop it. We suspect it is due to staffing/room of where he could have gone during the lessons). It may well be obvious but can they ask for proof. To be honest I'm not sure what I'll do if he has a panic attack and can't go on any of the days so it might not just be those ones

DD walked out of most of her mocks. School have acknowledged this is likely to happen for the real things and have said they will encourage her back in but won't insist on it and the only follow up will be her having to come to terms with her results. Obviously, can't speak for all schools, but their approach seems reasonable as there is little else they can do and anything more would be unreasonably punitive - she's not doing it to be an arse, she just cannot cope with being there for many reasons.

Klopps, sorry you are going through this too. Hope the exam period isn't too stressful for you both.

You are right, I'm just frustrated it has come to this. So avoidable.

I'm sitting- sounds familiar. Mine doesn't walk out but hasn't always gone in! I just don't see the point of the stress of 3 more exams that unless a miracle happens aren't going to get him anywhere.

It's strange that the school won't let your son drop those subjects if he's almost certain not to pass. They could withdraw him right until the last minute, but if he just doesn't turn up he will get a U. Maybe it would be better for their stats for him to get a 1 or 2 than nothing?
I think it's highly unlikely the school would charge you for the exams. Another option if the school still refuse to withdraw your son from these exams is just tell him to turn up and do the minimal, no revision, if he's going to get a U grade anyway he may as well do a little bit of writing and improve on it. If he's too anxious to go with this plan then phone him in sick - mental health problems are just as valid as physical illness.

Yes I'd phone in sick with anxiety.

They could withdraw him right until the last minute, but if he just doesn't turn up he will get a U.

Unless he has completed any coursework (I don't think there is for history?) he won't get a U (fail) he will get an X (didn't attend) and no grade issued.

Speak to the SENCO & tell them that ds will not be attending his history exams & you would like to withdraw him from them. The worst they can say is no, just check that missing one exam doesn't bar him from other subjects.

My daughter was able to drop 3 after we got an educational psychologist involved. You're a bit late for that though. We also have a meeting with school this week about my daughter sitting her GCSEs at home.

I think it could be a progress 8 thing and they need history for the humanity?
Ridiculous of the school.

You will probably have to pay the exam fee.
When I was at school we were told if you really think you can't do it just go anyway and write your name on the exam paper. If you don't do any of the questions you would get a Grade U but it saves your parents having to pay the fee.
(I think the theory was you might end up giving it a go after all)

In terms of dropping it now. They will probably have already paid the exam fee. It is also highly likely they do not have a spare teacher to supervise him alone while others are in their history lesson. Where dies he go for the lessons he has missed so far??

This is very strange of the school. They could have withdrawn him last week and got a refund. I can only think that they are worried this will open the floodgates for students wanting to drop subjects. They could try charging you if he doesn’t turn up, but they’d have no way of legally enforcing that charge, unless you’ve signed some sort of contract agreeing to those terms.

We really don’t encourage students to drop subjects in my school, but there also needs to be a bit of flex for students struggling with their mental health. It makes no sense to compromise their other grades by stressing them out and forcing them to sit a subject they hate, where they might at best achieve a grade 1 or 2 and are more likely to write nothing and get a U. It isn’t rational even from an Ebacc/P8 perspective.

Agree with others, this does seem ridiculous of the school. How high have you gone with this? I would be tempted to ask for a meeting with head of KS4. Agree also that mental I’ll health is as valid as any other health reason - tho tbh I have got kids out of bed and sat them with a sick bucket to enable them to take their exam. This is obviously a different situation of course.

Noble is correct of course, he will receive an X rather than a U if he does not attend.

Do you mean there was a personal issue with the first teacher so he didn’t attend the lessons?

I think unfortunately OP you’re just going to have to stomach the fee. If you really can’t afford it then you could try escalating a complaint as he should have been able to drop it (and it sounds like there are other issues if he hasn’t been attending lessons?) but obviously no guarantee especially without much info.

I believe he’d have to declare the grade on his UCAS application, if university is something he is planning on.

I usually post on the SEN boards. This is slightly off topic but what access arrangements have been put in place for your Ds for his GCSEs? If he's struggling to write more than a couple of sentences and has such a high level of anxiety that he's missing lessons, it sounds like he needs a fairly high level of support.

What is the plan for your DS post GCSEs?

His cycle of anxiety sounds horribly familiar to me. My Ds has autism and his anxiety is his biggest barrier to learning.

Have you considered applying for an EHCP for your Ds? I think you say he doesn't have a specific diagnosis but that doesn't matter as it's needs based. There's some good info here:

www.ipsea.org.uk/Pages/Category/how-should-your-nursery-school-or-college-help

www.ipsea.org.uk/pages/category/education-health-and-care-plans

Thanks for the replies.
He gets very little support. If he is too anxious to get in the lesson (will often get as far as the classroom and then has a panic attack about going in, caught in a vicious circle of absence, fear of not knowing what is being learnt, people in his assigned seat, heighten state due other events that day etc.). He is allowed to go to the SEN base and do some work there as long as he has tried to go to the lesson. It has taken years to get this allowance and several exclusions as he will just pace the school rather than go in. He did get seen by ed psych a year ago but the report was disappointly woolly and the recommendations were a bit thin and even those have been poorly implemented. I did ask about raising an EHCP in June and December and was told she wouldn't qualify. But I think lot if what the school has told me is misleading (eg can't drop a subject without a diagnosis). I did start writing the application myself over Christmas but it is very difficult to say that support has failed and more is required when it is hard yo evidence what actual suport has taken place. The only exam concession is small room, but no walking breaks despite having 2 a day scheduled for the last year! No individual room despite having motor and some vocal (like popping noises) tics that he is very self conscientious about with further feeds the anxiety and would probably disturb others. He has had no additional SEN help regarding the writing anxiety. His English teacher has been lovely and he respects and listens to her BUT he has still written very little. He is in top set but the teacher has completely admitted it is gamble because everyone is hoping that on the day he can pull it out of the bag. The last 3 sets of mock have been ungraded for English as he has written literally nothing. He answered one part of a literacy paper whilst in the SEN base before Easter. The English teacher excitedly called me after school and said what he had written was level 7 BUT she didn't know whether to tell him because the pressure of knowing he could do the work at that standard might backfire and he won't write anything unless he feels it is that good. He has just finally has his autism assessment but a month later we are still waiting for a decision and to be honest it is pretty borderline.

Anyway, History, teacher was loud and brash and would point out in front of the class who hadn't done a piece if work usually with a sarcastic comment. He would pick on people to answer questions which terrified my son. Despite several requests to not do these things he continued and I witnessed it for myself during live lessons. Very marmite some students like his style but nit good for my already anxious child. Even more irritating was when they finally agreed to move his lesson there was another class running at the same time that he could of gone to all along (and there were 5 people from the old class already in there!).

So do I communicate with the school now (exams officer, SENDco, head) and say I would like him withdrawn from the exams or do I just let him not go and say he was sick/anxious. If I ask and they say no it makes the 2nd option harder. It would be more calming for all concerned if we could be honest about it.

Sorry for the essay - I clearly do not have the writing issues my son has

I'd tell them in writing that he won't be attending and the reasons. It's not too late for them to withdraw him.

They might try and get you to cover the cost, but I doubt they'd make any attempt to force you.

Your poor DS! You too. So much of what you've written resonates with me as my Ds sounds very similar. For what it's worth, my Ds is also a very able student - on paper - but he needs so much support and scaffolding due to his disabling anxiety. I use the word disabling deliberately because it completely controls his life and impacts on every aspect of his being.

From the face of it, it sounds like the school could have been doing a lot more to support him. With weeks to go before his GCSEs though I appreciate it's going to be hard to get much done at this stage.

I would suggest you post on the SEN boards here, also try and contact Ipsea or SOS!SEN for advice. They run free phonelines but it can be hard to get through, you may need to try every day.

I would also say that I was told by my Ds's school Senco that we would never get an EHCP for him as he was too 'able'. I applied myself and did.
With the right support in place, hopefully it will be possible for your Ds to shine and demonstrate his potential.

Wow OP that sounds terrible! I don’t have any advice I’m afraid but wanted to say well done to you and your son for even getting this far

He sounds intec is boy bright and it must be so infuriating knowing what he’s truly capable of. Good luck to him

other potential side effects of not going: if he gets a U he’ll have to declare it on UCAS, and if he’s intending to go to school sixth form they may decide not to offer him a place.

definitely push for him to not have to sit it - SENCO needs to pull their finger out and help you. Can you frame it as you don’t want the anxiety of these exams to impact his others?