Mum Joanne Badder's anger after son not entered for GCSE maths exam during unauthorised holiday from Canterbury school
Tyler Badden with his mum
Joanne outside Chaucer Technology School
by Jamie Bullen
A boy was told he needed to stump up £100 to sit a GCSE exam
after returning a week late from a family holiday.
Tyler Badder, 15, missed two maths lessons while taking the
unauthorised leave from Chaucer Technology School so was not put on
the entry list to take the important test.
His "flabbergasted" mum Joanne, of Gordon Road, Canterbury,
marched down to the school to speak to head teacher Simon
Murphy after learning the news - and was told Tyler could only take
the exam if she paid a £100 late entry charge.
Speaking after the exam, which Tyler did not take, the
44-year-old said: "It just seems completely wrong to me and I can't
get my head around it. He only missed two maths lessons.
"It just seems completely wrong to me and I can't get my head around it...” – Joanne Badder
"Mr Murphy said the fee for a late entry was £100, but there
shouldn't have been a need for it in the first place.
"We only discovered he wasn't entered when he was taken out of a
revision class.
"He was told, 'this doesn't concern you', and taken to an RE
lesson.
"We spoke to Kent County Council and the feeling they got was
that we have been penalised for taking him out of school."
Mrs Badder said Tyler missed a week at the start of term because
of a family holiday in Turkey.
Mr Murphy confirmed the school decided not to enter Tyler
because they were unaware why he was absent at the start of
term.
He said: "What I do not think Mrs Badder realised is that the
entries for this examination have to be done and presented to the
examination board early in September.
"Unfortunately, the Badder family were away at this time on an
unauthorised holiday. In these circumstances, it was felt that we
couldn't enter Tyler for this round of examinations.
"However, I can confirm that Tyler 
has been
entered for the January examination for mathematics and he does
have a further two opportunities later in the year before he
finishes his Year 11 studies."
However, Mrs Badder said the episode had left her son fearing it
could jeopardise his plans to enroll on an animal management course
at Canterbury College.
She added: "He feels upset and annoyed that this has possibly
hampered his chances of getting into college. He thinks he has been
treated unfairly."
12/11/12
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