How many additional-needs pupils get extra time at GCSE exams at your school?

[FaazoHuyzeoSix]

I have just found out, through a random fact dropped into a conversation on a different topic, what proportion of y11s at my DC's school have extra time in GCSE exams, and it's a quite surprising number to me.

If you know what rough percentage of pupils have this adjustment at your school could you post it here with a few words describing the school (eg Inner city comp, deprive area/selective state grammar/non-selective state school in affluent area/independent academically selective etc etc). I think it will be interesting to get a bit of anecdata on this and speculate about the different factors that might affect the figures? Are certain types of schools more likely to identify issues that lead to extra time being granted, or is it more that parents whose children may have additional issues are more likely to push for certain kinds of school? For schools where there is a lower-than-average proportion of kids who have been identified as having a need for additional adjustments, is it likely that there's a population of kids there with the same needs who just haven't been identified?

Namechanged for this!

I invigilate exams at 2 schools (and 2 universities). One school is an 'inner city comp' and one a highly selective independent school. Lots more pupils at the independent school have extra time/ pcs/ rest breaks etc.

The cynic in me would say that parents at the Independent school have more money to pay for the educational psychologist reports etc and the schools have better resourced SEN departments. I'm not saying that these pupils don't warrant the extra time, just that there are probably pupils at the other school who fall through the net.

I've worked in both independent and comp as a dyslexia teacher. Usually the more monied the intake the more kids have access arrangements, that includes comps.
That's not to say they're abusing the system, it's sadly a money game when it comes to who can afford an EP assessment or wait 4 years for a school EP to come, only to say they're not bad enough to warrant a full report.
Access arrangements are also based on normal working and Indies are often more able to work logistically around kids who need extra time as they have the staff and space for it.

The school I previously worked in was a mixed comprehensive- only school in a ruralish town. I'd say around 5-10% of students in any given year group got access arrangements, with around half getting extra time and half getting some other kind of support such as rest breaks, a reader etc.

I'd say those who's parents could afford an external report often got the most comprehensive access arrangements. It didn't always seem fair in terms of who got what.

My child goes to an academically selective independent school. A surprisingly large number of the student get extra time. They screen all children in year 7 for learning difficulties.

I think people have to be really clear whether they are talking 'access arrangements' or extra time. Extra time is only a subset of access arrangements.

Both my DDs get extra time due to writing & processing difficulties.
DD1 also used a laptop. DD2 gets rest breaks & coloured paper too.
Extra time really only helps if you need it. In GCSEs I feel that if you have average processing you can get through a paper in the standard time. If you don't know the answers then all the extra time in the world won't help.

@TeenDivided, can you possibly share what happened to lead to extra time for writing difficulties? Thanks!

The SENCO/concessions assessors did various tests on processing and writing speed and they came up worse than the threshold. I don't know much more than that or what specifically was the trigger.

(Both my DDs have diagnoses of dyspraxia & DD2 has a dyslexia diagnosis too. when DD2 had her dyslexia/dyspraxia assessments her standardised test scores were v low.)

To be honest it was blatantly obvious for both of them that they needed extra time as they needed adjustments in class to keep up / homework took longer etc.

@TeenDivided I get what you mean but for quite a lot of exams now, especially at A Level, it is so difficult to plan and write an essay in the time given, as well as go through the maths questions and check work. Even for a neurotypical child.

No idea re A levels. Neither of mine did them.

Thanks @TeenDivided.

I've found this article on bbc news from 2017 so obviously 5 years out of date, but that says 20% of candidates in independent schools but only about 13% of candidates in state schools get these kinds of adjustments.

I agree that it could well be that the wealthy are more able to have the resources needed to get the assessments done and signed off. It would take some quite extensive research to verify whether there's anyone being identified with additional needs in the private sector who would not have qualified if assessed in a state school, but that would be startlingly unprofessional of the EdPsychs, who tend to be the same people with the same qualifications in both cases, doing some work privately and some for the state sector as required, so it's more likely that the discrepancy is due to unidentified needs in the state sector. That's a failing of the state system that needs fixing urgently. I don't think I quite have the statistics knowledge to calculate what'd the number of "missing" candidates who ought to have special arrangements would be, but if we can assume that there's no overall difference in basic intelligence and ability between those who can and can't afford private schools then it could be up to 40,000 kids each year whose additional needs aren't being recognised and identified prior to them taking GCSEs.

I’m approaching 40 so it’s a while since I was at school, however, I remember being shocked when I got to university and discovered that loads of students were getting extra time in exams. Without fail they were kids from private schools and they all had dyslexia (apparently). At my mixed comprehensive in a fairly affluent area I don’t remember a single kid getting extra time during GCSEs or A Levels.

I always assumed the private schools were being very generous with their diagnoses so that the less able kids could have some additional support. It really was a staggeringly high number.

We test every child's writing speed in year 7 and again in year 9. That, along with their CATs and other data helps us to identify who needs Access Arrangements.
11-18 comprehensive.

I live in a town with a large, high achieving independent school so quite a few friends work there. I cannot believe this is true but apparently the kids get some kind of dispensation if they are ill on the day of the exam so those who are expected to be on grade boundaries are told to go and see the school nurse before exams to get paracetamol for their ‘migraine’.

Really hoping someone here can tell me this is bollocks?

My son has extra time for exams. Only granted at the end of year 10. Have been fighting since year 5 for it, lots of educational psychologist reports, audiology reports, SALT reports etc. he's one of a handful in his large comp school who get extra time.

Pretty much bollocks! It's a lot more complicated than that if a child is actually ill!

The JCQ rules on who gets extra time are pretty strict, so I don't think there's any way someone in a private school could qualify, but they wouldn't have got it in a state school. Other access arrangements might be more likely to be "normal way of working", I suppose, in some private schools. But equally, I can imagine some private schools not really allowing things like rest breaks during extended work, so I would imagine overall, across both sectors it balances out?

I think the difference is having a school that can either screen all pupils, or parents who can pay for an EdPsych, rather than relying on a school who will have limited EdPsych hours and will prioritise those who are most obviously in need.

I do think at GCSE, in general, most students of average ability can finish the exams in the time allowed- but equally there are students who are in a bit of a grey area who are a little bit slower at writing, or need a little bit of extra thinking time but don't qualify for extra time, who might gain extra marks if the time allowed was a bit longer in some subjects (particularly subjects where an essay/extended response is needed).

At A-level, I've definitely known students who are pretty capable run out of time in exams- maybe not to answer every question, but certainly to go back and check their work, or maybe add a bit to extended response questions etc. Some students also just aren't great at exam technique, and if they get stuck on one question, they aren't so good at leaving it and moving on and coming back later, and then they may run out of time.

I've also known students who are really slow at one thing (e.g. graph drawing in science) run out of time- and again, that's not something that would qualify them for access arrangements, and you could say that's sort of the point! But they can do it, they're just not very quick at it!

@FaazoHuyzeoSix It won't necessarily be the ED psych being more generous to private patients. The way in which LA EPs work and private ones is different as well. If you get to see an LA one their job is to see what strengths you have so you can be helped practically.
Over the years we've had 2 reports from LA and 2 from private. They read very differently. They are both through but the LA one doesn't for example, specifiy timings of interventions, or anything for that matter. It is wooly and mentions things like needs regular support in class but doesn't say what regular means. If it did, the LA would have to pay for that in the EHCP.
The private reports are often 20 pages long and last everything wrong and everything right. They list interventions detailing length, qualification of professional that needs to implement it and how often it needs to be done. It lists how many hours a week DD needs a TA and that she needs extra time in all exams as a regular way of working. It lists things that should be made as her regular way of working.
This sort of assessment is not accessible to those without money. It's not the EP being more generous, she was diagnosed with the exact same thing by both, scored pretty much the same taking into account a 6 month difference. It's just the funding is so scarce in the SEN pot, they don't want to specificy anything. However, a good senco will be able to get access arrangements to a child regardless of EP report. They may just not be on the sencos radar as they've fallen through the net both at school and at home.

I was an exams officer and the rules around this are very tight. Your child needs to be assessed in school and it needs to be proven normal
way of working. Depends how and when your senco tests.

@coolpattern the rules have changed and kids don't need to be assessed if it's their normal way of working.

Work in an inde school. Money buys access arrangements. Of a cohort of 84, 16 have been allocated private rooms for the exams.

That's not including any others with extra

Others with extra time, rest breaks etc

By private rooms. I mean on their own in a room with an invigilator. And yes SIXTEEN.

If a student is genuinely ill on the day of an exam (but not seriously so) they can get 2% special consideration. But there is a process that schools have to go through, and if a disproportionate number of students were doing this every year, I would think that the school would be investigated.

1/4,of my DDs' school got something, including both of mine. One gets 25% extra, the other gets 25% extra, rest breaks, room on her own and it seems mugs of tea don't think that was written down though