New guidance issued about whether critically ill children have to sit exams to get grades
Northallerton teenager Grace Sanderson campaigned for the change in the final few months of her life
Children having cancer treatment could now be given GCSE and A level grades - without having to sit exams.
The Government has updated its guidance after a campaign by Northallerton teenager Grace Sanderson.
She started a petition after being told she'd need to sit exams to get a grade, despite undergoing chemotherapy at the time. Grace died last summer after being diagnosed with leukaemia.
Her Mum Emma says she couldn't believe it when they were told she could take the tests while she was in hospital: "She could barely hold a pen, barely sit up, how anyone is expected to sit an exam when they have a chemo drip running through or when they are on morphine or goodness knows, whatever else."
Grace managed to take several tests before she became too unwell. It's still not clear how or why but she was eventually awarded a full set of results. Emma says picking up her grades meant the world to her: "She was amazing and just so brave, it meant going back into hospital that last time she had the hope that her life could go back to how it should have been. Unfortunately that's not how it worked out but for the last 3 weeks of her life, she had that hope."
Emma says fresh guidelines have now been issued making it clearer that children who are critically ill maybe able to get a grade in 'rare and exceptional circumstances'. Emma says she hopes the new guidance will help others: "I know Grace would be over the moon, she would be so proud, because she always thought the petition she set up and the interviews she did, probably wouldn't help her, but it would help other people."
She's also thanked everyone who signed the petition calling for a change: "It wasn't a huge thing to ask for, but it was an incredibly unfair thing to do to kids in this situation, and so many people backed us and we spoke to some many families in a similar situation so yeah, thank you for that support."
The Government have now written to Grace's family confirming the guidelines are being set out more clearly including the fact that 'awarding bodies may be able to award grades using suitable alternative evidence in exceptional circumstances.'