A level exams

[April2004]

It’s a bit of a long story but I will try to be concise.
My daughter is going through A level exams. She was taken ill on one of her papers and had to attend A and E. she was treated for a UTI . As she missed her paper, we asked school to apply to exam board for exentuating circumstances. We provided the a and e notes as evidence . School refuses to accept this as they did not see the child themselves physically on the morning of the exam and hence refuse to accept that she was I’ll.
It’s a very desperate situation for us and I am going to see our own gp tomorrow to get a letter as well in light of the a and e visit.
My daughter is an A star student and has A stars predicted in all her subjects. She has an offer from Oxford to study medicine this year.
Her whole future has been jeopardised due to this illness but school is not budging. My question is: 1) can school refuse a doctor’s note as proof of illness?
2) Can school decide who is well and who is ill
I am looking at all options and therefore need some guidance.
Thank you.

@prh47bridge please could you give me some advice on this

JCQ sets the regulations for these matters. They say that the grade will only be adjusted if a candidate has missed a component for acceptable reasons and the centre (which means the school in this case) is prepared to support an application for special consideration. It is therefore up to the school whether they will support your daughter. That brings us to the law. Their decision must not be Wednesbury unreasonable, i.e. so unreasonable that no sensible person who had applied his mind to the question could have arrived at it.

If your daughter had been rushed to A&E with life threatening injuries after a car accident and, as a result, missed a paper but had completed enough to meet the minimum requirements, it would clearly be Wednesbury unreasonable of the school to refuse to apply for special consideration. If the school is saying that they wouldn't support any application unless they saw the pupil on the day of the exam, that is clearly wrong.

It may be worth explaining the situation to the Oxford college that has offered your daughter a place. They may be more understanding than her school.

If the school refuses to budge and the college won't help, your daughter may be able to take legal action against the school.