How much does it cost to re-mark GCSE papers

chatta

I got the nicest of school reports for him, all the teachers said what a nice child, polite friendly, good sense of humour etc, hope he does well enough for them to continue teaching etc. Yes maybe I will see the head next week, but you worry you are forcing them to take a child against advice. The school comes up brilliantly with exam results, our town is brought to a standstill every year when the 11+ is sat, so they can afford to be mercanary about their 6th form. It's a dillemma, I agree he was very close to getting back in, I will go and talk to head next week. Thanks for help savvy sue and ruthyjo today.

silvercar

Do take it further, if nothing else the school will see it as a measure of commitment you and he have to the school. You have nothing to lose and your persistence may pay off. Emphasise that your son knows the ways of the school and already has the self discipline encouraged by the school to perform as the school would expect. A new pupil is an unknown quantity and may not demonstrate the mind set that would suit the school. You could also mention that AS levels are only one year away and a new pupil would take time to settle down whereas an existing pupil is already settled.

I know grammer schools are a law unto themselves. In my son's school some children take one of their A levels at a local FE college and the remainder at school because the school have judged that they haven't done sufficiently well to take that same A level at the school - hardly in the pupil's interest and hardly likely to get the best result.

Savvy_Sue

Good extra ideas from silvercar.

And another question for the LEA - if he DOESN'T go back to this school, where is there for him to go, and is is suitable for his needs?

Where I live things have changed from most schools having a 6th form to 4 '6th Form Centres'. Plus there are the FE Colleges. My sons' school don't normally let you in without 5 GCSE passes at C or above, they insist on you getting a better grade than that for some subjects. But they might let you in to retake a GCSE alongside AS levels if there was a compelling argument for it.

Now for me, a compelling argument would be that this school was easy to get to, and offers the subjects son wants to do. Is there an alternative?

I presume you have thought through whether AS and A levels are the 'right' thing for him? If he's basically happy to continue and thinks he might want to consider university, great, but if he would prefer to get out and do something more practical, less academic, then please don't think that 6th form is the only place to be!

The school might argue that if they lower the bar for your son, they have to let 60 other pupils in, but I do think there are grounds for making this a special case. However, your son might be happier where he's not regarded as a 'weak' student with teachers perhaps waiting for him to fail. If he goes anywhere else I imagine they'd be delighted with his results!

I think what I'm saying is that if it were my son, I'd push for all I was worth IF I was sure this was the best thing for him. But I would NOT push it unless I was sure about it. Exploring other options at the same time would be useful, because you might walk into somewhere else and think "Yes! They WANT him, he could get here, he'd be happy, he'd do well."

Maybe not much help ... always hard to know what's best!

misty

Hi. I'm a teacher and an exam marker. The school will receive a break down of the marks as well as the grade - they receive them the same day as the exam results - these are important as you can see how near or far your son was to a B and ask for those papers to be remarked - it could be a near miss or by a mile. e.g for English GCSE on the AQA spec B 20% written coursework - 20% S&L coursework and 60% on the 2 exams - each 30%. each paper e.g paper1 and paper2 are marked by diff examiners. There is a range of marks that will be a C. On the foundation paper the highest grade is a C and the school receive a breakown like this

Candidate 1F(paper2) 2F(Paper2)CR(Coursework R&W) CS(S&L) Scale
Scale Scale Raw Mod Sca R M S Total Grade Est

Joe Bloggs 54 63 19 19 56 18 18 53 226 C C



Overall - lowest mark for each grade

Grade Scaled Mark

Max 400

C 206

D 167

E 128

F 89

G 50

So Joe Bloggs above with a total scaled mark comfortably got a C - However anything over 206 would be a C. It's worth checking how far out they were - less than 5 marks - def worth a try. It varies from exam board to exam board as to the mark grading and from subject to subject and paper to paper.

As an examiner we know that more and more people request a remark - for various reasons - we are told that our papers could be remarked and to ensure clarity for everybody it should be clear how and why marks were allocated according to the mark scheme.

As an aside - the school's attitude seems less than helpful and I would consider if trying to remain there is worth it. Good luck

shopndrop

I really feel for you and your son but I do think that it is worth a discussion with the head of school. Will the school take your son back if he resits one of his exams or can he just re-sit a module to hopefully bring him up a grade?

chatta

Thanks misty for explaining that all to me guess I need to go into school again and find out how close or not the marks were. The school don't offer resits I'm afraid. I will mention all the points here and see how I get on, I will let you know next week. He does want to carry on and do A levels but whether he then goes on to uni we will see. Thanks for your support though xxxxxx

kittykate_2

Aww thats not fair!! I went to grammar school and I know bloody well that some ppl in the sixth form did not get the minimum grades required to stay on for sixth form, yet they were still there!!!!

I also know that we didn't have that many new students joining our school as well, the sixth form was mainly pupils who had attended the school. ONly a handful of people from other schools came in.

Definately appeal against it and see what happens. It is absolutely ridiculous that they have said no! Your son sounds bright enough to do as/a2 levels and it is plainly clear that it is only the schools snobbery that is driving them to say no! its not even as though your son missed the grades by a mile. grrrr. Really quite angry for you!


Good Luck! and keep us informed!

KKx

chatta

Thanks your right (I think) I will pursue it. They haven't said he isn't capable just that he might be better elsewhere :rolleyes:

kittykate_2

chatta wrote:

Thanks your right (I think) I will pursue it. They haven't said he isn't capable just that he might be better elsewhere :rolleyes:

Yes, it's just grades snobbery. They wouldn't want to risk their high grade average for a levels. A college near to where I live used to push the students hard to get good grades and if they didn't the students would be 'advised' to drop the subject that they hadn't done well in. It takes the mick!!

Good luck!

Kkx

chatta

kittykate wrote:

Yes, it's just grades snobbery. They wouldn't want to risk their high grade average for a levels. A college near to where I live used to push the students hard to get good grades and if they didn't the students would be 'advised' to drop the subject that they hadn't done well in. It takes the mick!!

Good luck!

Kkx

Your right :T