11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi I just wondered if anyone knew what if anything needs to done if a child has had a significant illness in the run up to GCSE? Is there any need to have this officially recorded or will school do anything?

I ask because my son missed a significant chunk of yr 10 due to illhealth....resulting in losing half of the autumn term and all of the summer term having investigations, trying our medical solutions and then surgery and rehabilitation....we were able to get some support from hospital education to help him catch up on some subjects. He is back at school full time now and very determined to catch up...as he has set his sights quite high as far as a levels and beyond.

His teachers seem to think he has academic potential, a keen enquiring mind and his grade predictions are high I just wonder if this sort of thing is taken into account at all when awarding grades or do we wait and see how he copes with his gcse’s...

Have you spoken to school? I think it's unlikely as the disruptions were Year 10. In similar circumstances some students reduce the number of GCSEs they are sitiing or redo the year.
They could apply for special consideration but that tends to be for problems nearer the exam itself.

DC17C wrote:Hi I just wondered if anyone knew what if anything needs to done if a child has had a significant illness in the run up to GCSE? Is there any need to have this officially recorded or will school do anything?

I ask because my son missed a significant chunk of yr 10 due to illhealth....resulting in losing half of the autumn term and all of the summer term having investigations, trying our medical solutions and then surgery and rehabilitation....we were able to get some support from hospital education to help him catch up on some subjects. He is back at school full time now and very determined to catch up...as he has set his sights quite high as far as a levels and beyond.

His teachers seem to think he has academic potential, a keen enquiring mind and his grade predictions are high I just wonder if this sort of thing is taken into account at all when awarding grades or do we wait and see how he copes with his gcse’s...

The rules on special consideration are set by the JCQ:
https://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/acc ... -2017-2018

Guest55 wrote:Have you spoken to school? I think it's unlikely as the disruptions were Year 10. In similar circumstances some students reduce the number of GCSEs they are sitiing or redo the year.
They could apply for special consideration but that tends to be for problems nearer the exam itself.

Yes he has been able to drop a subject which has helped...

ToadMum wrote:
The rules on special consideration are set by the JCQ:
https://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/acc ... -2017-2018

thank you...that is useful

Oh I wish your son all the best - it sounds hard work to put right but he sounds determined which is great. I would imagine that if he gets his head down with exactly the right materials he has plenty of time to get great grades in a lot of subjects. At least there isn't coursework to muck up the picture at GCSE these days. Just hope that school does not load him up with crazy homework that does not fit the bill for him and that remaining lessons between now and the exams are relevant. I'm sure an able and motivated child could achieve a lot of high grades with the time available between now and June even if they just sat at home with good revision guides and past papers.

It does feel tough that performance on the day due to something at the time/close to the time can be taken into account but a considerable amount of interruption to education at an earlier stage cannot. But I can also see the logic to it.