Slough Grammar Appeal

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ardmore
Posts: 75
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:11 am

Post by ardmore »

Sally-Anne wrote:Hi Guest

I would say that with a shortfall of 2 marks, provided the friend can present strong evidence, an Appeal is worth it.

Initially your friend's son must present the same information as for all Appeals - the best possible proof via academic evidence that the child is suitable for a Grammar School, regardless of what occurred on the day. There is advice on this throughout the Appeals section and on Etienne's "Appeals Q & A" here.

Your friend will also need to present written confirmation from the school of what happened on the day.

The panel are likely to ask questions such as: How far in to the test did he leave the room? How many questions does the child think remained unanswered at that point? Was the child showing symptoms of illness on the morning of the test before leaving home? Was the child sent home after leaving the test? Has the child previously suffered from headaches?

The panel will be trying to weigh up the academic evidence against the shortfall of two marks, and then trying to decide if leaving the test early was the key influence on the child's score. In this situation high CAT scores (or comparable test results) would be very helpful, as they would show the panel what the child is capable of achieiving in tests under different circumstances.

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Sally-Anne
Dear Sally
My DS scored 110 in Slough grammar School ( NVR 104, VR 111 and Maths 116). He has achieved 5Bs in reading, 5B in maths and 5 in writing
On the day of the test he slightly injured his forehead and was bleeding, I could not convince him not to take the test as he thought he can stand this minor injury and take the test as that was of high priority. we did not push him further. In the exam room he bled again and in the process he withdrew his concntration from test and wiped his blood couple of times, did not raise the hand for the invigilator as he did not like to be seen rude ( very strange idea), in the process he lost synchronisation with his Multiple choice answer sheet. When he realised, he rubbed the answers and did again. In the process he could not complete altogether 8 questions in VR and NVR.
He has 100% attendance in Y3, Y4, Y5 in his primary school. This perhaps shows his committment to learning.

Do I stand a chance if I appeal? If I do appeal, please can you help me what to focus on the letter ? I myself would like to present to the panel with some planning and prepartion of course.
chad
Posts: 1647
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:49 pm
Location: berkshire

Post by chad »

HI ardmore..

With a mark of 110 and Sats results of 5's then yes.... you have a chance at appeal. You must have good evidence of his academic ability.... hopefully your primary school will help you with this.
I have split your post from the previous topic so that (hopefully) it will be seen by S-A or another who can help with appeals. It is half-term so there may be a delay in a reply.
Please use this thread to post any other details/ replies on your appeal as it is then easier for us to read and help. :)
ardmore
Posts: 75
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:11 am

Post by ardmore »

chad wrote:HI ardmore..

With a mark of 110 and Sats results of 5's then yes.... you have a chance at appeal. You must have good evidence of his academic ability.... hopefully your primary school will help you with this.
I have split your post from the previous topic so that (hopefully) it will be seen by S-A or another who can help with appeals. It is half-term so there may be a delay in a reply.
Please use this thread to post any other details/ replies on your appeal as it is then easier for us to read and help. :)
Thanks Chad. I hope S-A will be able to help me. The sitaution is there is also a minor extenuating circumstances that we underestimated and went ahead with the exam. School had an option to take his exam on a different date that we did not atke. In hindsight it could have been better not to take the exam on that day. I am not sure how I make a convincing presenation. My DS insisted for going ahead on the day though and usually he makes right choices and decision under different circumstances. I am drafting to write something along this line, please can I benefit from the opinions and comments of the forum to improve the text.




DS had a minor accident just two hours before the exam on 26.09.09. The detail is included in the letter from his optician. He said he lost concentration in the exam hall because of slight further bleeding from his wounds. He had to take care of his bleeding through tissues several times in the hall resulting in not being able to complete Non-verbal and Verbal papers. He said he left six questions in NVR-VR combination. He was not bold enough to draw the attention of the invigilator as he thought he did not like to be seen rude by an adult in the presence of his peers. Despite my word of cautions he insisted to take the exam as he thought he could manage it underestimating the potential impact in his concentration. He is nervous and shy in an unknown environment (the head teacher can confirm that). His total score is (331: VR -111, NVR -104, Maths-116, standardised score 110): If he could finish the papers, the outcome would have been better.
Conclusion: In the head teacher’s talks at several grammar school open evenings that I have attended, it was mentioned that a child attending level 5 in Science, Maths and English at the of end of Year 6 in primary deserves an admission in a grammar school. We believe he could not perform in the test to his full ability on that day. His performance in his SATs ( Reading 5B, Writing 5C, Maths 5B and Science 5C end of first half term in Autumn in Y6) and his qualification in other grammar school entrance exam ( Wallington County Grammar School) indicates he deserves a place in Slough Grammar School.

Thank you very much for your attention and advice in advance.
Ardmore
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Hi Ardmore

You must ensure that all the academic evidence you can pull together takes precedence over the mitigating circumstances in your letter. The first task at an appeal is always to convince the panel that a child is academically able. SATs, CATs, school reports, written evidence from his teachers and the Head - every scrap of academic evidence that you can lay your hands on must go at the start of the letter.

Once you have established that he is academically suited to a GS the remaining task is to provide any reasons why things didn't work out on the day of the test.

The problem with the cut to his head really falls into the category of "unexpected illness during the test", rather than the category of "not sending a sick child in to take the test". The difference is quite significant. The acid test of the second category is whether you would have kept him off school because of the injury. From what you have written, it seems pretty clear that you most certainly would have sent him in to school because it was only a very minor injury.

If that is the case then I think you need to make that clear to the panel, and state that you had no reason to believe that the cut to his forehead would start bleeding again during the test. You then need to simply state that, although it was simply a very minor injury, the distraction of having to tend to it led him to lose his concentration.

I hope that helps.

Sally-Anne
ardmore
Posts: 75
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:11 am

Post by ardmore »

Sally-Anne wrote:Hi Ardmore

You must ensure that all the academic evidence you can pull together takes precedence over the mitigating circumstances in your letter. The first task at an appeal is always to convince the panel that a child is academically able. SATs, CATs, school reports, written evidence from his teachers and the Head - every scrap of academic evidence that you can lay your hands on must go at the start of the letter.

Once you have established that he is academically suited to a GS the remaining task is to provide any reasons why things didn't work out on the day of the test.

The problem with the cut to his head really falls into the category of "unexpected illness during the test", rather than the category of "not sending a sick child in to take the test". The difference is quite significant. The acid test of the second category is whether you would have kept him off school because of the injury. From what you have written, it seems pretty clear that you most certainly would have sent him in to school because it was only a very minor injury.

If that is the case then I think you need to make that clear to the panel, and state that you had no reason to believe that the cut to his forehead would start bleeding again during the test. You then need to simply state that, although it was simply a very minor injury, the distraction of having to tend to it led him to lose his concentration.

I hope that helps.

Sally-Anne
That's very helpful indeed Sally-Anne. Yes, it was a minor injury and happened two hours before the exam on that day, I had no reason to believe that would have stopped him to postpone his test so we went ahead.. I will definitely stress on his academics.
partygirl
Posts: 68
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:39 pm
Location: Heston

Post by partygirl »

Ardmore,

It is definitely worth appealing. My DD also failed by one mark for SG last year. I appealed and won and my DD loves it at Slough. Like your DS, my DD achieved the qualifying score in two out of the three tests so when presenting the academic evidence I concentrated my appeal to the area where she didn't achieve the qualifying score. S-A may disagree with this approach but it worked for me last year. Happy to offer any other advice if you want to send me a PM.

__________________________
Partygirl
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

I certainly don't disagree with that approach partygirl, but it can be tricky when the topic is either VR or NVR, because they are not curriculum subjects and it is therefore harder to prove ability than in, say, Maths and English.

Not impossible, just more difficult!

S-A
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Post by Etienne »

One can never be sure what a particular appeal panel is looking for, so I think the best thing is to present all the academic evidence there is to suggest high ability, and let the panel decide what weight to give each individual bit of information.

If an appellant does have evidence to show that a result in one of the 11+ tests was unexpectedly low, so much the better! - but that doesn't preclude other academic evidence that may be taken into account.
Etienne
ardmore
Posts: 75
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:11 am

Post by ardmore »

Sally-Anne wrote:Hi Ardmore

You must ensure that all the academic evidence you can pull together takes precedence over the mitigating circumstances in your letter. The first task at an appeal is always to convince the panel that a child is academically able. SATs, CATs, school reports, written evidence from his teachers and the Head - every scrap of academic evidence that you can lay your hands on must go at the start of the letter.

Once you have established that he is academically suited to a GS the remaining task is to provide any reasons why things didn't work out on the day of the test.

The problem with the cut to his head really falls into the category of "unexpected illness during the test", rather than the category of "not sending a sick child in to take the test". The difference is quite significant. The acid test of the second category is whether you would have kept him off school because of the injury. From what you have written, it seems pretty clear that you most certainly would have sent him in to school because it was only a very minor injury.

If that is the case then I think you need to make that clear to the panel, and state that you had no reason to believe that the cut to his forehead would start bleeding again during the test. You then need to simply state that, although it was simply a very minor injury, the distraction of having to tend to it led him to lose his concentration.

I hope that helps.

Sally-Anne
Once again, it was an unexpected illness during the test. why did my DS did not raise his hand nor when I discovered from him after the test, why did not I flagged to the attention of the school. Definitely I will have to prepare to answer. How do I cover this?
ardmore
Posts: 75
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:11 am

Post by ardmore »

ardmore wrote:
Sally-Anne wrote:Hi Ardmore

You must ensure that all the academic evidence you can pull together takes precedence over the mitigating circumstances in your letter. The first task at an appeal is always to convince the panel that a child is academically able. SATs, CATs, school reports, written evidence from his teachers and the Head - every scrap of academic evidence that you can lay your hands on must go at the start of the letter.

Once you have established that he is academically suited to a GS the remaining task is to provide any reasons why things didn't work out on the day of the test.

The problem with the cut to his head really falls into the category of "unexpected illness during the test", rather than the category of "not sending a sick child in to take the test". The difference is quite significant. The acid test of the second category is whether you would have kept him off school because of the injury. From what you have written, it seems pretty clear that you most certainly would have sent him in to school because it was only a very minor injury.

If that is the case then I think you need to make that clear to the panel, and state that you had no reason to believe that the cut to his forehead would start bleeding again during the test. You then need to simply state that, although it was simply a very minor injury, the distraction of having to tend to it led him to lose his concentration.

I hope that helps.

Sally-Anne
Once again, it was an unexpected illness during the test. why did my DS did not raise his hand nor when I discovered from him after the test, why did not I flagged to the attention of the school. Definitely I will have to prepare to answer. How do I cover this?

On further note, my DS qualified in other Grammar School, I have not included it in my CAF as it is 30 miles away from home. Point is if I include this piece of information, in the appeal note, is it going to backfire?
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