Tag: exams access arrangements

Sue wears a Nystagmus Network T-shirt and sits at her exhibition table.

Sue at VIEW

Nystagmus Network’s Sue Ricketts travelled to Birmingham last week for the annual conference of VIEW, the national body representing Qualified Teachers of Visually Impaired children and young people (QTVIs).

Delegates were treated to presentations on the latest thinking on special educational teaching and support, including responses to the recent SEND reforms.

Sue was part of the exhibition, ensuring that teachers and support staff had all the resources they needed to signpost families to the Nystagmus Network for support and information. There was overwhelming praise for our digital guides, with ‘Wobbly Eyes‘, the booklet for young children, again proving the most popular, followed closely by ‘Nystagmus and Driving‘ and Sue took the opportunity to introduce our latest publication, the Nystagmus exams guide.

There was lots of interest, too, in our online book shop, featuring ‘Can I tell you about nystagmus?’ by Nadine Neckles and the newly published ‘She will never…’ by Amanda Harris.

In the run up to Nystagmus Awareness Day on 20 June, with our 2023 theme ‘Share your nystagmus story’ we are making available lesson plans and Powerpoint presentations for teachers and their pupils. We hope that these resources will not only raise awareness of nystagmus in schools but also help children and young people living with nystagmus feel better understood and more included.

2018 exams access arrangements feedback

Our friends at VIEW need your help. VIEW is a registered charity, which represents Qualified Teachers of Visually Impaired children and young people (QTVIs). It exists to help support the education, development and opportunities of children with vision impairment.

They would like to receive feedback from schools and services on their experiences, both good and bad, of access arrangements for this summer’s exams. They are primarily interested In GCSE and A level exams, as they are in ongoing dialogue with the exam boards, but they are also happy to receive comments on National Curriculum tests, too. Their aim is to collate the information they receive into a summary report which they will share with colleagues in the sector and with the exam boards.

Please provide as much information as you can in your feedback, including:
• the exam concerned, subject, paper and date
• the access arrangement concerned, e.g modified paper, extra time, human support etc.
• a description of what went wrong/went well
• if you wrote to the exam board concerned about the issue, please attach a copy of your letter/email and any reply you received.

All the information received will be anonymised in the summary report, but your contact details would be useful in case VIEW need to get back to you to clarify any of the information you send.

They will accept information up to the end of the summer term 2018.

Schools can contact VIEW with their feedback, here.