[senco-forum] access arrangements

Thanks ,Laurie.  It is very useful.

  We don't give these pupils help with the day to day business in class.  It is assessed coursework I am concerned about.

  Amanda

LaurieMaybanks <laurie at maybanks.net> wrote:
  Hi Amanda,

We generally find that one person can read for several students at GCSE,
especially science/maths modules.

In terms of readers for GCSE I was on a course recently and Nick Lait (who
runs the Edexel Access Arrangements Department) was there.

The question that I raised with him was that although we had students who
qualified for a reader on single word reading test and had had a reader for
SATs it was not possible to provide someone in class to show 'normal way of
working' due to lack of staff, resources, budget, etc. Did that disqualify
students from having a reader?

He said that "We [Edexel] would look favourably on applications for readers
under those circumstances."

Obviously students need to have the chance to practise having a reader. But
there is, in my opinion, a difference between practice and having a reader
24/7.

In terms of costs and budget issues personally I don't think that should be
your problem. Perhaps something the exams officer should be discussing with
senior management?

Whilst perhaps not solving all your problems, and of course that is only one
exam board, I hope that goes some way to help.

Laurie
Specialist Teacher
Hertswood School
Hertfordshire

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Amanda
Sent: 17 October 2006 18:43
To: senco-forum
Subject: [senco-forum] access arrangements

Hello everyone
What do you do to try to support pupils doing GCSE assessments? Do you
leave others unsupported in classrooms to help those in exams? How many
people do you use to read and scribe for GCSEs at any one time?

I have a problem with my Year 10 group. About 15% of the group meet the
criteria for a reader or a scribe or both. Now this is only about 18 pupils
but where do I find the people to work with them?
Forget 'a reader may work with more than one pupil' because it just
doesn't happen that kids ask for the occasional word to be read. Year 9
SATs tell us that.
What has made the problem more difficult is that the science syllabus has
changed and, as well as the multiple choice modular exams, we now have
written time-limited assessments on unseen questions at the end of each unit
of work. Science want the kids to have readers and scribes if they are
entitled to them. We have always provided readers for modular exams but the
Head of Science has told me there could be as many a twelve written
assessments in Year 10 alone.
If science have readers and scribes, then so do all the other subjects
where pupils do written coursework. After all, the kids are entitled. So
English, maths, history, grography, French, etc, etc are saying kids need
support in their assessments too. The exam boards expect pupils to practice
their access arrangements quite rightly.
I have between ten and fifteen people available at any one time to work
with pupils. Almost all are 'tied' to pupils with Statement hours, of which
only three are in Year 10 and they share 2.2 full time equivilant between
them. Almost everyone else is in other year groups.
We thought of asking for volunteers from the community but every one would
need to be CRB checked at a cost of £40 apiece and then re-checked if we
needed to use them again in a few months.
What do you do? What do you think I should advise my Head?

Thanks.

Amanda
Secondary SENCO
Cornwall

Amanda
Secondary SENCO
Cornwall