Allegations of cheating

[Sparrow]

Thanks for your reply, dd34.

Reading Abba's post has made me wonder if observations of a child having sat the exam papers before are coming from the same incident or multiple incidents. For all we know, it may be emanating from just one child at one centre. It would therefore be useful to know the exam centre that these observations have occurred to determine if that is the case.

Moderators, would it be in breach of forum rules if posters named the centre where these observations occurred?

[Sally-Anne]

Hi sparrow

We are discussing your suggestion and we will get back to you - within the next 24 hours if possible.

If it isn't possible to name the venue on the open forum then a Mod will offer to collate the information privately and see where it leads.

Sally-Anne (On behalf of the Mods)

[moved]

Hi, I am Essex-based, rather than Redbridge, but will aim to collate your information if you send it to me via pm. I will not be able to respond much as I will be out of the country for the next few days.

[babes]

Hi all, I can't believe that this is happening again this year. My DD took the exam last year and I was absoultley horrified when i found out the crap that was happening re cheating last year that I did call and write in to Redbridge Council. Last year we thought we had put an end to this, and I was very pleased that this year this exam was in one day.
But it seems that this will continue until the tutor or centre and the indivudal who is working in the education department has been investigated. NAME and SHAME is the best solution so that an end can be put to this behaviour for once and all.
My DD did get into Woodford and she loves it, and continues to thrive, but she has told me of a girl who is still having tution becasue she can't cope with the work. Now that is worrying???? Some parents would go to such lengths just to get a child into a grammer school, but will that child thrive or struggle.

I feel for those parents that had a child sit the exam becasue I have been in that situation and was very worried that all the hardwork my DD had put in may have been in vain.

[Sally-Anne]

Hi babes

NAME and SHAME is the best solution so that an end can be put to this behaviour for once and all.

To do so on the Forum would represent libel, and cannot be permitted.

We are working with Redbridge parents behind the scenes to unearth the facts about what has happened and we will support them in putting the issue to Redbridge Admissions, if they wish us to.

Please could parents send any information about what happened and where to "moved" or myself by PM. We will post an update early next week.

Sally-Anne

[Sparrow]

Thank you Sally-Anne and Moved for collecting this information together on behalf of all of us who have put our DC into this year's 11+ exam in Redbridge. May I also urge all the parents who have evidence of children seeing the exam papers before the 20th December to pass all the details onto Sally-Anne and Moved as soon as possible.

If you are reading this forum, but have not signed on as members, and you also have evidence of some children seeing the paper before the exam, would you please give consideration to joining this forum and posting this information. If cheating really has occurred, then the more evidence we have the greater is the chance that we can stop it affecting the right of all our children to gain a place at grammar school on merit and merit alone.

My DD will be returning to school next week and I will be talking to all the parents with children that sat this exam and telling them about these allegations and pointing them in the direction of this forum. I hope everyone reading this forum will be doing the same. If the allegations turn out to true then every parent, of every child, that participated in last week's exam, has a right to know that they have been cheated. Then together, we can all do something about it.

[KenR]

I rang the Admissions Dept. this afternoon and they confirmed that they had a number of parents ring up. Their response was that the practice papers they had used were commercially available and that there was a possibility that some of the children may had seen them before. However, they refuted any claim that the actual exam papers would have been seen before. They told me that these were not commercially available, were kept under lock and key and only seen by long serving and trusted members of their staff.

Hi Sparrow

Did the admissions dep't staff really use the phrase not commercially available? What do they mean by that? Do they mean, for example, that the general public can't buy the papers but that schools and teachers in other LEAs are able to buy them? If you are really concerned I would contact the Admissions Dep't and get them to clarify exactly what they mean by that phrase.

It's strange but this is exactly the phrase that was used by Warwickshire LEA some years ago when it was found that the Moray House 11+ papers used by Warwickshire were freely available for purchase by bone-fide schools and teachers in other LEAs so long as they could demonstrate that they had no connection with Moray House based 11+ exams! initially Warwickshire LEA inisted that there could be no cheating as the papers were not commercially available! However after numerous complaints, Warwickshire changed the exam supplier from Moray to Univ of Durham

http://www.hoddertests.co.uk/tfsearch/k ... mhtnew.htm

(Please note: Moray House Tests are available to most schools, but may be subject to restriction in areas where they form part of a local assessment programme or selection procedure. These tests must be ordered in writing, and will only be supplied direct to a school or LEA address. The publishers reserve the right to decline to supply without stating a reason.)

Please note however that Moray House has no connection with GL Assessment - I personally would be surprised if GL Assessment would releases the Redbridge papers even after the exam if it was a true bespoke paper prepared exclusively for Redbridge. However bespoke papers are very expensive to produce and it may be that Essex/Redbridge decided to reduce costs by purchasing recycled 'restricted circulation' papers and in that situation it's entirely possible that these did get into the Educational/tutororial domain for entirely legitimate reasons. For that reason I would seek confirmation from Redbridge that they did indeed request bespoke 'virgin' papers to be compiled by their supplier GL Assessment?

Hope this helps

[fatboyslim]

Hi, being a parent of someone who sat this years 11+, i am disgusted by this. I have also been told by a couple of parents about a particular tutor in this area getting hold of 11+ papers. True or false?

[Sparrow]

Hi KenR

I do not recall what words they used, but they did try and impress upon me that it was the practice papers, freely available at certain newsagents, that the children had likely seen before. It was their view that the papers they used for their examination could not have been seen by anybody, other than their own trusted staff. I agree with you that if they were not bespoke papers then that may be how a breach of security has occurred.

Hi fatboyslim,

Did the parents you spoke to have evidence that a particular tutor had copies of this year's 11+ paper and do you know if these parents intend to complain to the Admissions Dept., citing this evidence? If you have a name of a tutor or any other information could you please PM it all to Sally-Anne on this forum?

Sparrow

[fatboyslim]

Hi, have sent PM to Sally-Anne.