Anyone else with a sick child missing exams?

[gopherit]

😩

Ds has been ill with a stomach upset and has missed a chunk of exams. Feeling really stressed for him. No idea how much to push him.

No answer for you but sending sympathy, this was my fear. So awful when it’s a simple bug but it ruins everything due to timing. So sorry for you and your DS.

Is this GCSE or A Level? If so get a doctors note and send to school

Thank you. I just wish I knew what this would mean. In my day kids would sit them in the summer holidays, but it seems thats not an option! Apparently hey'll make a case for his grades to be averaged on what he does sit - but that was info given on day 1, no idea what happens if he misses loads.

Gcses and yes, all logged with gp.

I think there's the option to resit core subjects in college?

Yes, think we're going to have to come to terms with re-sits instead of his 6th form subjects. He was so looking forward to starting his new subjects. Gutted for him.

Found this for you OP, apparently the same across exam boards. Really sorry for your DS, hope he gets better soon!

Maybe he'll benefit from being that little bit more mature when he goes on to his next stage post-college? x

If he can sit one paper they grade across if only missing one. Some resits can be done in November all is not lost just may slow the next stage. Many kids do 3 years at post 16 level as funding in place until 19. Hope he feels better soon

Broadly speaking, if he makes it into one exam for each subject and they are happy with the medical reason they can make the grade from that.
Though subjects with 3 papers he may need to do 2 of them, I'm not sure, I expect you can check it on the JCQ website.

The only November resits are maths and Eng Lang.

Thank you - so helpful to know! Am waiting to discuss with the exams office - they'd said as much on missing his first one, but wondered if multiple it might be different. Very glad not multiple exams in single subjects this week!

Although do eng lit and eng lang count as separate subjects? - he's likely to miss one of each of those...

Yes Lit and Lang are different GCSEs.

Illness is one of the reasons exams for core subjects are now spread out.

Thank you so much for all the replies - so very helpful. Feeling better already (well I am!). Thank goodness it's half term next week so he can fully recover for the next round.

Oh I completely feel for you. This happened to my DD a couple of years ago. She got covid and was very unwell with it. She missed 3 or maybe 4 papers I think from memory

Pushed herself to go in for English as the school recommended but felt far too unwell. She could barely read the paper, attempted to answer one question and walked out. School contacted the exam board and we sent a medical certificate but they weren’t terribly reassuring tbh and said it was out of their hands and up to the exam board.

It was such a worrying time and we weren’t expecting great results as she’d been sleeping between exams not revising but it actually turned out okay. She got what she needed to go on to A levels which really is all that matters. We had fully expected she may need to resit especially English but because she’d already sat one paper, they use that to work out an average grade and she ended up with a 7 in that which she was happy with.

Try not to worry too much. I think if he can manage at least one paper per subject, you might be okay. as they will take an average. You absolutely will need a doctors certificate so that’s priority.

I totally understand, they work so hard and then something happens out of their control but if it’s any reassurance, the exam board were pretty fair in our experience. Good luck 🤞

If he was expected to do well at GCSE, I don't think re-sits instead of A-levels would be the best course of action. GCSEs are mainly just a stepping stone. Provided his sixth form are prepared to take him on the strength of mocks/predicted grades, he should be able to move on. He'll need maths and English, so could resit those in November. Universities are mainly interested in the A-level predicted grades, and should accept missing/poor GCSEs with a good reason.

The only potential difficulty is that if he doesn't have maths and English, his sixth form are obliged to provide him with maths/English teaching. If he's likely to pass in November without additional input, they might be able to be creative about how to tick that box.

Hopefully that will all be unnecessary, though. They've deliberately separated the papers for most subjects now, so that unless they're ill for quite a while, they're likely to do at least one paper, and qualify for a grade worked out on the basis of that paper.

He needs to sit a minimum % value of the total marks in each subject for the exam board to produce a grade. English language and literature are two separate gcses. If at all possible could he take any with access arrangements? Is he likely to feel any better after the break? Without English and Maths passes his options for next year are limited I’m afraid, so resitting might be the best option, but those are the only subjects with a sitting before next summer.

Thank you, especially to those with direct experience. We've established that as long as he can make all of the exams after half term they should be able to make a case for special consideration. So fingers crossed he stays well after this episode! 🤞