Elizabeth is 14 years old and is currently in Year 10 which means she has almost completed her first year of her GCSE's.  Her behaviour is exemplary, she's a diligent pupil and her teachers describe her as a 'delight to have in the classroom'. Yet in spite of her best efforts, Elizabeth has been classified as  'underperforming' in almost all subjects. 

 Elizabeth has a diagnosis of ADD. This means she has differences in thinking and learning that make it simply impossible for her to perform well in our current system of testing, no matter how hard she studies, and especially when her entire grade is based upon exams at the end of her GCSE’s. As a result of her ADD, Elizabeth has:

• a short attention span and is easily distracted
• makes careless mistakes- for example in her school work
• appears forgetful and loses things
• is unable to stick to tasks that are tedius and time consuming
• appears to be unable to listen or to carry out instructions
• constantly changes activity or task
• has difficulty organising tasks.

English, Science, Maths, R.E, Geography and History all require her to take a written exam at the end of the two year course with the expectation that she will remember a vast amount of facts including quotes, formula and whole poems. This is something Elizabeth simply cannot do.  There are no adaptations a school can put in place that will overcome the fundamentally flawed system that is based on testing children's rote memories, and not their learning.  We are told that coursework forming some or all of her final grades is simply not an option

We need your help to get advice from lawyers about the merits to challenge the discrimination Elizabeth faces, along with thousands of other neuro-divergent children across England. Altering the system to meet the needs of these children isn't cheating, it's a fundamental right to a reasonable adaptation to enable them to demonstrate their academic ability in a way that isn’t limited to just passing an end of year exam. 

Also, I am looking for at least one other family to join me in this claim.  If your family are similarly affected, and you want to join the claim, please do get in touch!

Thank you very much.