GCSE and Broken Hand

[Boohoo76]

So my 14 year old broke his right hand yesterday (and he is right handed). He’s in year 10 and taking two GCSEs early this year. He has one exam left on Friday. His hand/arm was put in plaster yesterday in A & E and we are waiting for the fracture clinic to call this week. I will contact his school first thing tomorrow but does anyone know what is likely to happen regarding exam arrangements? We are not sure whether he is going to be able to write. He actually wasn’t in much pain yesterday but he couldn’t move his hand.

Oh goodness, hopefully it’ll settle by Friday and he might be able to manage with a laptop? What terrible timing! Agree, contact school first thing tomorrow.

They will base his grade off the papers/coursework he has completed in the subject, as long as he has done 15% or more of the gcse.

He’s done the first exam - statistics - this week so that’s half of the marks. There is no coursework.

He doesn’t think a laptop will be possible as they have to write lots of formula which is going to be tricky using a laptop.

School can provide him with a scribe if needed

There’s lots they can do. This happened to my friend’s son last year. He could type or have a scribe or he might get extra time.
Depends on him I think.

The school should arrange for a scribe. (I used to be an invigilator & scribed for a student who broke his hand in the middle of his exams)

See if he can get a scribe? It’s a standard reasonable adjustment, although I’m not sure how much in advance they have to be agreed!

when I did exams we had a couple of instances like this and he will get his own room a scribe and extra time

Surely they don't need much advance notice in order to deal with emergency situations.

we did a same day scribe the application for it goes in at the same time and doesn’t need approval!

I’m trying not to panic and I’ve told him not to worry and that the school will have dealt with this plenty of times before. Really wish I had not let him play cricket through the exam period now!!!

The will!

he is not the first, and he won’t be the last.

look on the bright side, he’s got a ready made cautionary tale for your grandchildren 😂

He’s probably best off saying he’s in too much pain to do the exam and base it off the first, as using a scribe will
be hard with no practice.

Please don’t panic. These are exams he is taking earlier so if they are importance to him he could (worse case) take them next year.

While this is new to you this is very common for the school and they will put procedures in place. The options a) laptop b) scribe c) he doesn’t sit it and they base the mark on the paper he has already done.

Injuries happen. They are part of life/ growing up. Don’t stop him doing activities he loves.

The school and exam board will fully expect him to take the exam nearly one week after the incident - scribing is a skill yes but for the scriber not the pupil!

we had it as an emergency between the morning and afternoon exam - scribes are usually a teaching assistant who is used to doing it - and they are very good at making sure the pupil is confident

Friday afternoon doesn’t have much else so the experience one should be free

You might be right for essay subjects, but I’d find it impossible to do maths without being able to write down my calculations and use a calculator. It would take twice as long to explain to somebody what you wanted them to do.

He could still use a calculator though with his left surely?

anyway the school will come up with a plan

My son dislocated his write shoulder just before his Maths exam. He got a scribe and extra time. It did affect his grade (predicted 8, actual 6) but he still passed so no drama - no one looks at the GCSE grades again after college app as long as it's grade 5 or above.