11 Plus Exams Forum

We've been told by the Selection Review panel in our county that the council have destroyed all notes from the selection review meeting. I understand that Kent also has selection reviews and was wondering if this is also the policy in kent. PS - all we receive are typed up brief comments (less than 40 words) from the meeting in a spreadsheet. thanks in advance for help

Hi jpk

I'm afraid this will not help you. The two systems are very different, and Kent regard their "Head teacher assessment" not as a review, but just as part of the 11+ process. It is generally brought into play only in very borderline cases (mainly those with shock results), potentially removing those from the system for the benefit of all concerned.

As far as I am aware there is no Clerk in attendance at the assessment, and the outcome is a simple "successful/unsuccessful". Parents may even be unaware that an assessment has been requested because the cases are selected by Primary Heads and they submit the evidence, not the parents.

Parents still have an automatic right to a full appeal in front of an IAP and Kent does not enforce "fair, consistent and objective".

S-A

My DD was subject to a headteacher review and her headteacher showed me an A4 piece of paper which had the school's notes about why they were supporting her to go to grammar and then the panels notes on the decision and reasons for this decision. It was all handwritten.

HTH

Medway has an official review, different to the Kent headteachers 'appeal / review' so maybe ask on there as some may have gone through it and be able to offer you advice. Alternatively you could try Medway council and ask them what they do with their review papers?

I'm afraid that whatever happens in another area is most unlikely to help jpk with his appeal in Bucks.

The crucial point regarding the Clerk's notes being destroyed is that Bucks CC is contending that the destruction of the notes is "in line with the Council's own clerking policy".

That only goes so far though, because for all Council meetings where a Clerk is present, the notes are turned into published minutes, providing a full record of the proceedings, before they are destroyed. The Clerk's notes for an IAP hearing are retained by the Appeals team for two years.

It is far more important to state those two points, showing the discrepancies between the Review process and the Council's own policies, than to say "in Kent/Medway ..."

There you go Jpk, the best advice from the expert!

I am not aware of the 'after review' procedure concerning later appeal in Medway, and as Sally-Anne says, it's ultimately irrelevant to your needs for Bucks review / appeal.
The system(s) in place everywhere seem terribly unfair at times.
Good Luck.

Thank you all for your comments. I will file my question under "it was worth a try"