11 Plus Exams Forum

Is anyone out there appealing for Ribston? The delay is an absolute nightmare. We've been given a date of 24th June!! All other schools seem to have heard all their appeals- I just want to put an end to the waiting!!!

I'm not in Glos,but had to say hello 'cos you sound pretty desperate kiddo xx Hang on in there,it will all be worth it in the end
All the best,Sallyj.

I am not appealing but just wanted to say all the best of luck for yours.

I believe the appeals for Ribston were late last year too - definitely not fair as some of the children may well do their "taster day" at a school that they won't be attending.

I'm not on the Ribston panel, but can explain the problem as many other panels have the same problem...

Panalists are volunteers. Many of us are employees who have to ask for time off work - either annual leave, or (for some lucky people in public-spirited companies) special leave. My company, f'rinstance, has seasonal and weekly peaks, so I can't make Mondays, and May is quite busy. Then I couldn't make Friday 22 May as I had to be somewhere by 3pm...

For a school where there are few appeals, finding one day when three panelists can meet is fairly easy, but when appeals are spread over 3 or 4 days it gets more difficult; don't forget that the same panel MUST hear all the appeals for a school (and if someone goes ill, then all appeals must be reheard by a new panel). The first day form one set of my appeals was in May, the second day is one is in mid-June.

The answer is for more people to volunteer to hear appeals, especially ones who can take two or three day in a row. No experience necessary, salary is non-existent (although travelling will be paid), the lunch is free and plenty of tea or (weak) coffee. People who have appealed in the past are especially welcome to apply.

I must admit I'd prefer appeals to be heard over three days consecutively - but we do our best.

Thanks for the explanation- much appreciated. I know it must be a logistical nightmare to organise appeals, but being in this 'limbo' is hard and, as we all know prolongs the agony! I would dearly love to know though, how many other appeals are being heard at Ribston and if in fact they do have any spaces (as per the rumours!)

Hi,
I appealed for a place at Ribston last year so I know how you feel! My appeal was also on June 24th, and due to some kind of mix up or something I didnt find out the outcome until about 10th July.
The whole waiting thing was awful.
Im sure when I received the paperwork from the school it said how many appeals they were hearing, and Im sure it was 35, but have no idea what it is this year.
My appeal was not successful, but I think 6 were so fingers crossed for you and your daughter.

dayn wrote:My appeal was not successful, but I think 6 were so fingers crossed for you and your daughter.

I would expect more to be successful this year, as the school is currently under subscribed, so there's more room to fill without prejudicing on grounds of space. That said, the panel might not want to prejudice on grounds of ability, so allowing someone in with a score of 160 when the pass mark is 216 would be unlikely - they would have to have very strong evidence that the score was an aberration (say the child was taken ill 1/2 way through the exam and the paper showed the 1st half was 99% correct - type of evidence).

Good luck - and I understand Stroud High appeals are today & tomorrow.

capers123 wrote:when the pass mark is 216

Capers, deviating slightly here, to take advantage of this point, and preparing to panic next year; how does one find out what the actual passmark is. Was 216 plucked from the air - I thought it was generally 210 and then space-dependent. Was Pates 240 last year, 250 this year? What about the cut offs this year and last (thereby getting an indication for next) for Tommy's??
Many thanks, and sorry for hijacking, just wanted to snatch at what's been brought up.
Good luck in the Ribston appeal

Milla wrote:

capers123 wrote:when the pass mark is 216

Capers, deviating slightly here, to take advantage of this point, and preparing to panic next year; how does one find out what the actual passmark is. Was 216 plucked from the air - I thought it was generally 210 and then space-dependent. Was Pates 240 last year, 250 this year? What about the cut offs this year and last (thereby getting an indication for next) for Tommy's??
Many thanks, and sorry for hijacking, just wanted to snatch at what's been brought up.
Good luck in the Ribston appeal

Plucked from the air from experience at previous appeals for another school and used as an example, but I thought that this year most of the schools were standardised so 216 was the pass mark (but of course, some had many more pupils getting that than they had places).

For the actual pass mark, 'phone the school or Admissions at Shire Hall - normally they are quite helpful.

In an effort to try to 'clarify' the confusing points scoring system in Glos we received 4 different scores for our daughter from 4 different schools even though she only sat the one test!! So the standardisation process is a complete mystery. e.g Stroud High advised that their minimum pass mark was 216 but Ribston published theirs as being 210. The scores that my daughter received for all 4 schools were nowhere near each other ranging from 198 to 212 and she didn't get in anywhere.