HELP! DC has GCSE tomorrow and feels very unwell

[thisistheworstpossibletiming]

DC has come down with what we assume is some
sort of virus - high temperature, swollen tonsils and pounding headache. They’re doing dual
award science chemistry in the morning (definitely NOT their strongest subject either).

They will obviously do their utmost to get in and sit the exam, but bar a minor miracle, I can imagine they’re going to feel pretty horrendous tomorrow anyway.

We’ve just emailed the HoY and their tutor to give them a heads up. Is there anything else we should be doing (apart from the normal illness care of pain killers, water, sleep etc)?!

Contact the exams officer at school too.

I was thinking this but don’t think I can access them until tomorrow morning (when I will obviously call!)

Try and call the GP in the morning& get them an appt for after the exam. If you're going to apply for spec con you need evidence.

Or call 111 and try and get OOH appt now

Ex exams Officer here - firstly don’t panic!!!
If they are too unwell to sit the exam all is not lost. Assuming they have/will sit the other papers the Exam Board can work out average grade based on those. If they do sit but are poorly this can be taken into consideration too. Contact the Exams Officer at the school and they will advise further. They will need to apply for Special Consideration whatever happens - but very common and all in a days work for them.
Hope your DC feels better very soon xx

Thank you so much. I feel terrible for her as she’s had to work and work for chemistry, including tutoring etc as she struggles with it so much.

She likely has a virus - should we get a GP
appointment tomorrow after the exam
for ‘evidence’? You know what doctors are like about only diagnosing a ‘viral-type illness’

My daughter had A-level exams when she was ill last year, she actually had a relapse of hypothyroidism diagnosed in the end. I took her to the GP and they provided a letter which the school submitted to the exam board So they were aware that she was newly diagnosed the week of her A-levels exams and feeling very under par. Apparently as you never will know whether it was accepted evidence or not but still worth doing particularly as she may be poorly for a few days and have other exams that need to be taken into account?.
What happens if she’s not well enough to sit exams at all tomorrow- don’t know. Perhaps someone else on here does. Hope she feels better soon.

Exams officer here; If your dc isn't well enough to sit the exam then contact the exams officer (and attendance team) and let them know.
If they are too ill to do the exam then they are too ill, I always advise students and parents to make the decision on whether they are ill but well enough that special consideration will adequately reflect their usual standard of work (bearing in mind they would probably get the lower level of special consideration) and if the student is iller than this then consider if they should stay at home and rest.
The exams officer may not be able to get back to you before the exam, I don't speak to parents before the exam as I just don't have time.
It's not the end of the world to miss one exam due to illness, just be prepared to fill out the JCQ self certification form and if you need to take your dc to the GP then keep evidence of the appointment (do not get a letter or appointment as proof- the self cert form is adequate).
Hope your dc is on the mend soon

Might be better to not sit than sit when unwell.

As long as your dc sits one of the exams for that particular subject, I’ve been told they’ll average the other paper(s). This is what the exam officers are telling you. As for special dispensation, it’s 5% for the death of a parent so it’s only going to be something like 2/3% extra for acute illness. Better not to sit the exam if too unwell.

Not particularly clued up in this area and can see exams officers have posted. But I also wanted to offer another thought that may help - if she really is unwell, it may be better to keep her off tomorrow 1) to not spread to the whole group! 2) to let her rest so it doesn’t affect the others exams. Pushing through tomorrow night extend the illness and wipe her out for longer.

I’ve done this with mine as I know that dragging it out will make them worse. Sometimes zapping it with a quite day and rest = less days off in the longer term.

poor thing! And so annoying when she’s worked so hard. I’m guessing (asking the exams officers here…) that she couldn’t do at another time in a room??

I hope she feels better soon and aces chemistry!!

Poor girl, sounds horrible!

Agree about sitting it somewhere away from others if she does go in, it definitely sounds like something that should not be shared with other year 11s!

This is more or less what we were told when DC1 was ill last week and just couldn't get into sit exams, those subjects will be assessed against their performance in the 2nd paper and the national average (ie they get 5% above nat avg in paper 2 then theyd get 5% average in paper 1 and those marks will be combined for final grading). We applied for special consideration for the paper the next day. They're borderline for 6th form anyway based on mocks so dreading 20th Aug but not a lot we can do about it now.

Well all we can do is let school know, obviously it’s up to them to decide what they want to do about keeping her away from everyone!

I think she’ll manage going in, but she’s definitely feeling rough. I feel so bad for her, she’s really upset

Hopefully she can get a decent night's sleep and wake up feeling a bit brighter.

@jinglejanglescarecat GCSes and AS/A Levels are timed and dated exams so have to be sat at the published time (unless there is a clash or approved timetable variation) and I can't speak for other schools but I don't have the staff or rooms to just move a student last minute. My invigilators would refuse to invigilate an obviously unwell child on a 1 to 1 basis. We can cope with students catching a virus going around but if the invigilators catch it we're stuffed!
I hope a good night's sleep sorts your DD out amd she's feeling much better in the morning @thisistheworstpossibletiming but if she still has a temperature tomorrow then definitely reconsider her going in.

I had a student with D&V sit her exam in my subject in a small room with access to a toilet and a bucket in case she vommed.

Poor invigilator!

You have to consider though whether making her sit it while unwell could make her too poorly for English lit on Tues. Whereas if she misses tomorrow and gets well, she'll have a fighting chance for the rest of the week.

Oh god, that is the stuff of nightmares! Poor bit of them - neither of them will forget that in a hurry!! They’ll be haunted forever more!

I trust her to make a sound judgement. Unless she’s really burning up, she’ll be dosed up and there. It’s in the morning, so at least I can go and get her and she came home to rest afterwards if needed

Hope she's better soon, poor thing.

I'm not an expert but the way I understand it, It's better not to sit the exam if she is ill. The special consideration she'll get if she sits the exam is minimal (5%?), whereas if she doesn't sit the exam, the other papers will be used to determine her grade.

Her fever went away overnight so was able to go and sit the exam, despite still feeling quite rough.