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Exam disruption impacts my son, and school declines my request for Special consideration - anyone got experience of this??

KIDS3

I would be interested to know others views and experiences - inc teachers of course!! of the correctness of an invigilator speaking to a pupil in an exam, scribbling over their 'quote dumping' at the start of an English exam, when they handed their paper in at the end of the exam, telling them they are 'in breach of health & safety regulations' if they change their chair, telling them prior to the exam, in the corridor, that their computer reader was not working today, telling them off for ignoring their instruction [to change their chair] during the exam.

These all happened to my ASD OCD 16 year old son every day in the first week of his GCSE's. I have applied to the school for special consideration, as he was severely impacted by them, and overwhelmed with anxiety to such a degree that he could not think/write, let alone perform his best. He ended the week in tears, and only told me these things had happened at some point every day, on Friday that week.

The school is refusing the grant him Special consideration, saying that the disruptions were minor. I have quoted back to them JCQ regulations that state

that in such instances his disability should made minor disruptions major for him, but they are still saying no.

Has anyone won a similar battle please? If so, how?  Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated please! many thanks :-)

Parents

  • I am an ex-Assistant Headteacher with multiple complex disabilities including ASC (I personal prefer condition than disorder) and was in charge of SEND and Inclusion.

    I wondered if your son has an EHCP or is under "SEND Support"? If he has an EHCP the exam arrangements should ideally be stated in it. If not and under SEND Support then reasonable adjustments under the Equalities Act 2010 should have been considered and applied. Just thinking back (its been awhile!) As it sounds like he requires assistive technology then he should have had an "Access Arrangements" assessment by a qualified SpLD Assessor - do you know if this happened? I appreciate that there are more questions than answers but additional context may help me give further feedback to you.

  • in reply to TIW

    Thanks so much for your reply  ! He doesn't have an EHCP but is 'K' coded, and is hopefully at the very end of a 4 year wait for formal diagnosis. He sits all of his exams in a separate room, has extra time, and uses a computer reader and writes all of his answers on a PC. I think these are all 'reasonable adjustments' for him. These were all granted and organised by the school, without any hassling from me as parent; I don't know who their assessor for these was, sorry.

    The school has known him very well for 5 years, during which time they know he has had acute anxiety, and eating disorder, and recently been on a reduced timetable due to stress. My big concerns are that knowing all this, how can they now state that the disruptions he endured [let alone the fact that they were all created by the schools own invigilation staff!] were of minor impact to him.

    Having looked at at the JCQ regs for the conduct of exams, and the conditions for appeals for special consideration - [1] the invigilator was wrong to communicate with him at all, and very wrong to write on his exam paper [2] how can they deny point 2.3.16 above? Could this be a breech of the disability act 2010, as they are refusing to acknowledge his disability? 

    Might the school be rattled with me, as they are trying to cover up their own failings? They have told me that there are no records of any disruptions in the exam room, and when my son showed be the TEAMS chat between him and his Learning Support assistant, the photos she had sent him for reassurance of his chair back in place, after the worst incident on Friday, ready for his next exam on Monday - the text was still there, but the 2 photos had been 'removed by their owner'.

    I very much appreciate your thoughts on this, from your experienced perspective - thank you!

    https://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/instructions-for-conducting-examinations-ice/ 

    https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/JCQ-A-guide-to-the-special-consideration-process-FINAL_2025_26.pdf

Reply
  • in reply to TIW

    Thanks so much for your reply  ! He doesn't have an EHCP but is 'K' coded, and is hopefully at the very end of a 4 year wait for formal diagnosis. He sits all of his exams in a separate room, has extra time, and uses a computer reader and writes all of his answers on a PC. I think these are all 'reasonable adjustments' for him. These were all granted and organised by the school, without any hassling from me as parent; I don't know who their assessor for these was, sorry.

    The school has known him very well for 5 years, during which time they know he has had acute anxiety, and eating disorder, and recently been on a reduced timetable due to stress. My big concerns are that knowing all this, how can they now state that the disruptions he endured [let alone the fact that they were all created by the schools own invigilation staff!] were of minor impact to him.

    Having looked at at the JCQ regs for the conduct of exams, and the conditions for appeals for special consideration - [1] the invigilator was wrong to communicate with him at all, and very wrong to write on his exam paper [2] how can they deny point 2.3.16 above? Could this be a breech of the disability act 2010, as they are refusing to acknowledge his disability? 

    Might the school be rattled with me, as they are trying to cover up their own failings? They have told me that there are no records of any disruptions in the exam room, and when my son showed be the TEAMS chat between him and his Learning Support assistant, the photos she had sent him for reassurance of his chair back in place, after the worst incident on Friday, ready for his next exam on Monday - the text was still there, but the 2 photos had been 'removed by their owner'.

    I very much appreciate your thoughts on this, from your experienced perspective - thank you!

    https://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/instructions-for-conducting-examinations-ice/ 

    https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/JCQ-A-guide-to-the-special-consideration-process-FINAL_2025_26.pdf

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