Holiday booked during mock exam 😫!!

[claudib]

Feeling very foolish. We booked a trip (to see the Grandparent who lives abroad) and decided this time to be a bit naughty and book it on the Thursday before half term starts to get a bit of a discount. And we have just found out that my year 11 child's school have booked the mocks earlier than expected!! On the Thursday that we are flying..
Bugger!! Sod's law ect..😫
Just wondering if we just have to book a later flight.. or is there a chance we could make an excuse to school which we were obviously going to do anyway but how do they deal with missed mock exams? Do they always give another opportunity?
She is an incredibly diligent student and has a good relationship with her school and we have never done this before. But I don't know if anyone has had experience of this..
Thanks.

Move the flight. This isn’t the time to mess with their education.

Move the flight

Year 11 is not the time to decide to be a bit "naughty" with attendance.

Mocks can be caught up with (do they continue after half term) usually at a time when another exam is going ahead that they are not involved in (so if the exam is history during the geography exam).

this isn’t possible during the actual wxams

I would imagine both days would be unauthorised though

You’ll probably have to move the flight but I suggest speaking to her teacher first to see if there is any chance of a compromise.

Please move the flight or cancel.

Why don't you go on a cheaper holiday after the exams in June/ July?

Whoops!
Yes, move the flight.

move the flights

They will definitely not repeat it.
move the flight.

GCSE year and you pratt about with school attendance? I'm gob smacked.

Nonsense.

Move the flight, op.

Mock exams are way more flexible than the real things. It's not ideal but she'll either catch up when she gets back or not do it which means her grade won't be accurate. They'll probably do another set of mocks in Feb/March anyway

To all the dramatic posters who say mocks cannot be retaken - so what happens if a child is genuinely ill on the day of the mocks?

My DD was Y11 last year. They had 2 sets of mocks - Nov and Jan/Feb. So had your DD been at this school, she'd have another chance to do mocks.

However, I'd strongly advise to rebook the flight. Why make things harder for DD than they need to be? I'm honestly incredulous that you've never taken term time holiday before and choose Y11 to start.

This isn't just a case of missing one day of exams (2 days?) - presumably there will be a certain amount of needing to get packed and prepared before the trip. Which will detract from the revision that the student will want to be doing in mocks week.

This is just a really bad idea - giving the message that your Y11's education is not that important.

Check with school. They may have other groups/earlier for same test; and make up an important appointment which is difficult to move.

At DC's school they will take the exam not in exam conditions at some later date. This might be after they've seen some of the question in class and will most definitely be after some of their classmates have discussed them. So not a true "mocks" experience. Whilst this can't be helped for illness, it's not something to be aimed for.

It’s a really stressful and important time for students. Most students don’t want to miss the practice of doing the paper in the hall with the others. My son did another set of mocks later but they were only ‘mini’ mocks and not the same.

If a child is ill during the mocks then at my school they would catch up in as many papers as possible.
A member of staff would supervise a catch up session for a couple of days and students would be sent there to finish off any papers they missed.

If a student was off all week (eg Covid in the last) then they would sit English and maths in catch up but nothing else.

The mocks are taken more seriously now as in the years exams were cancelled schools submitted suggested grades and these were largely based on mocks.

Regardless of whether you move the flight or not I wouldn't have that blase attitude to attendance in year 11. This is the year it really matters

Sorry but it's your fault & need to move the flight. I speak with experience of booking summer hols without due thought of possible resits for uni - of course it happened & DS had to cut his hol short & we paid cost of separate early flights home. Safe to say this won't happen next summer.

This. We have always gone away early September but DD is year 11 now so we didn't. You can't mess about in exam years.

Mocks are practice but if a student is ill for the real exam, mocks done under examination conditions can be factored in. I think you were naive at best to book term time this year, it's very important not to miss school from year 10 onwards, it's not naughty, it could be life changing if they miss an important lesson that they don't realise they need to catch up on and it's not teachers responsibility to help them catch up. Illness can't be helped, holidays can

Move your DD’s flight. Surely she could stay with a friend, do the mock and fly out to meet you the following day.

This.

I have worked as an invigilator and of course they can move them - unlike the proper exams where you can’t
different schools may have different procedures but if a child is ill then of course it can be retaken

whether she should risk it and not move the flight is a different matter but there are absolutely no JCQ regulations regarding mocks not allowed to be retaken (unlike actual GCSE exams where of course you can’t)