GCSE - Special Consideration

[butterandcheese]

Hi there. DS is ill with a virus - fever, nausea, headache etc. He has to sit a GCSE tomorrow morning. Went to the GP to try and get evidence to submit to the exam board, and GP confirms DS is ill, but says they don't do letters or sick forms for schools. Help! How do I get evidence of illness that can be submitted so that Special Consideration can be given if he is throwing up tomorrow? GP says he could be ill for another couple of weeks.

Special consideration isn't much anyway, dose up with meds and perhaps a coffee

Isn’t it only something like 1-2% for an illness, when I did my urdu gcse as a mature student two years ago JCQ didn’t consider GPs to be medical professionals where evidence was concerned (I needed info about having my phone for my diabetes monitoring).

Nhs app?

I remember reading that children who had a test the day after the Manchester bombings only got 5%(?) consideration so I don’t think that your son would get much.

@butterandcheese hello just a thought, some surgeries give access online to gp records - could there be mention there of seeing gp / outcome? Usually an NHS site where GP has to give access once you fill a form - is your DS is already 16, they’d have to give permission for you to see DS record in that case.

maybe worth a shot?

The question is: Why doesn’t your gp do letters etc?

My gp’s did 4 letters for DD’s GCSE’s.

Let school know he is ill. They can fill in the paperwork. 2% uplift is the most he’d likely get to compensate for being ill.

If he’s too ill to sit it at all, let school know immediately. They can, again, fill in the paperwork and the exam board may award him a grade for the paper even if he doesn’t sit it. The proviso is that he’s sat at least 15% of the assessed components (or will have by the end of the exam season) One positive legacy of Covid is exams for the same subject being spread out over the exam series (as opposed to in one week like they used to be sometimes)

You need page 6

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Guide_to_spec_con_process_2023_24_FINAL.pdf

@SonicTheHodgeheg Yep. 5% uplift is the maximum. And very rarely awarded.

It's a good question, but I don't know the answer.

I think you might find that 'because they don't have to' is the answer.

For work purposes, you would self-certificate for the first 7 days.

Your DS can set up his own access on the NHS app and if there is an accessible record of him having been seen and assessed by a GP, show this to the school for himself.
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/nhs-app-legal-and-cookies/nhs-app-terms-of-use/#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20use%20the,aged%2013%20years%20or%20older.

No they don’t ‘have’ to.

But they charged 30 quid a letter. I’ve never met a GP who won’t do this.

A close family bereavement only get 5% so bring ill will be minimal I imagine

They don’t count in percentages for one off absences like this.

They take an average across the papers sat, or calculate it based from the full GCSE cohort across the country and what they got in a similar mark profile.

You could ask for a copy of the GP records as evidence, but if there’s any way you can get him to the exam then do it.

If he’s off for a couple of weeks he has at least got half term in the middle. Small mercy but can he haul himself through the couple of papers this week somehow?

Identical situation here OP. Missed English Lit paper 2 and hoping with paper 1 being taken, special consideration will mean that the grade can be used from this paper. English Lang on Thursday and hoping will power through.

We have had an awful time with the GP surgery, that refuse, even after much begging, to provide any medical evidence ie a letter. The NhS are not obliged to provide such evidence and apparently it’s a sticking point with the exam boards. I have ended up getting a BUPA private GP video appointment, who then provided me with a letter.

Has made a very stressful situation even harder, particularly as English is my DS best subject.

Isn’t there a self certification form for this if the school isn’t already aware the candidate is unwell? To avoid needing a GP letter? The previous JCQ page gives examples of candidates being unwell that definitely don’t need GP letters as school has the evidence but in cases where not you fill in this form?
https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Form-14_Self-Certification-Form.pdf

Special consideration is only about 2-5%. I've had kids at my school whose parents have died or been suffering with cancer and are only given 5% max

You dont need evidence. Last year DS has Shingles the exam officer or whatever they are called at the school just fills in a form. No evidence needed but you are looking at 1 to 2% for illness.

Ya 5% is the maximum
My DD got 4% as her dad was diagnosed with cancer the day before her GCSEs started

We're having to do this with DD who missed one of her A-level exams last week as she ended up in hospital for two days.

The process for missing an entire exam is different from sitting an exam.whulst poorly.

OP you don't need a GP letter. Email the exams officer and ask for the JCQ self certification form. Keep them up to date via email if your ds gets worse or misses any other exams. As long as he's sat 15% of the course he'll be eligible* *for special consideration (which doesn't give much if an uplift if you are present but disadvantaged but does allow for an aggregated grade if you are absent).
There's also no need to rush or panic, special consideration doesn't have to be done until the end of the exam season regardless of when the event occurred. I only do mine at the end because you can only put in 1 claim so you couldn't do flare up of a long term condition and then death of a family member who had been ill for the past few months, you have to pick the 'worst case'.
Also exams officers are very busy right now so might not get back to you as quickly as normal so email and then chase if you don't hear after a few days.

They don’t allot percentages when students miss an exam.

They take an average by looking at how every student performed across the country, and base it on that.