[senco-forum] access arrangements

I'm looking for a name or dept to contact for special exam arrngements for
both cambridge and edexel igcse exams for next school year.

Angela.

On 18/10/06, Amanda <amandavh at btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>
> 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
>