11+ Appeal with Statement of Special Needs
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Hi lisnagree, While I fully agree with Etienne’s statement that you want to come across as reasonable, you do have to be prepared to be quite forceful with disability issues.
Applying for the 12+ this year, certain provisions have automatically been put in place for DD which weren’t last year because our HT, like yours, failed to indicate that DD was covered by the DDA.
Our appeal panel last year was, frankly, neither knowledgeable nor particularly sympathetic over DD’s disability and we wish we had pushed them slightly harder on it. Good luck with your appeal.
Applying for the 12+ this year, certain provisions have automatically been put in place for DD which weren’t last year because our HT, like yours, failed to indicate that DD was covered by the DDA.
Our appeal panel last year was, frankly, neither knowledgeable nor particularly sympathetic over DD’s disability and we wish we had pushed them slightly harder on it. Good luck with your appeal.
Panels are not experts. One or two will be 'educationalists', one or two will be 'laypersons'. Don't expect them to know anything about disabilities or anything else - although they may happen to.Rob Clark wrote:Our appeal panel last year was, frankly, neither knowledgeable nor particularly sympathetic over DD’s disability and we wish we had pushed them slightly harder on it. Good luck with your appeal.
On a panel I used to be on, one of the panelists had a daughter who was a doctor, and hence she asked her daughter about any medical evidence - in general of course. So we had a rough idea of how much pain a child may have from a broken toe 8 weeks after a rugby accident.
Primarily, though, you need to tell us what the disability is and what effect it has. Assume we know nothing.
Don't preach, and tell us in a nice way, though, and honestly, just in case we do know about the problem!!!
Good luck
Capers
Primarily, though, you need to tell us what the disability is and what effect it has. Assume we know nothing.
Which is precisely the problem, unfortunately capers! Don’t take this personally because you give loads of good, helpful advice on here, but appeal panels are being expected to make subjective judgment calls on matters which they aren’t, frankly, sufficiently qualified to adjudicate.
I think there is tendency to downplay or even ignore issues, particularly medical issues, which are complicated to get to grips with and which require a certain level of expert knowledge (I mean among people in general, not just appeal panels
). It’s much easier to see how the death of a pet, say, might have affected a DC emotionally than it is to judge the impact of a medical condition on a specific occasion such as an 11+ test.lisnagree, all I can say is that I’m in the same part of the country as you and my advice would be to be prepared to put the DDA issues across fairly forcefully, if politely, that’s all. Best of luck.
Hi Etienne & Sally-Anne
We are bringing some examples of school work to appeal - how many copies do we need to bring? Also DD writes stories on a fan fiction website - is it worth bringing some copies of these too or is it best just to stick to academic work from school?
Thanks so much
lisnagree on an emotional see-saw
We are bringing some examples of school work to appeal - how many copies do we need to bring? Also DD writes stories on a fan fiction website - is it worth bringing some copies of these too or is it best just to stick to academic work from school?
Thanks so much
lisnagree on an emotional see-saw
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Sally-Anne
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- Location: Buckinghamshire
Hi lisnagree
No copies of schoolwork are needed, and please try not to take "selected" schoolwork to the hearing. Eng/Maths/Sci books are the core of the evidence, plus extras that show good results.
I would stick to school work - fan sites bring out the texter in many kids, and who knows who wrote it anyway?
Sally-Anne (sorry about the see-saw
)
No copies of schoolwork are needed, and please try not to take "selected" schoolwork to the hearing. Eng/Maths/Sci books are the core of the evidence, plus extras that show good results.
I would stick to school work - fan sites bring out the texter in many kids, and who knows who wrote it anyway?
Sally-Anne (sorry about the see-saw
)I posted some of the questions that we were asked at our appeal on my thread .... What to mention at appeal ..... on Monday. In addition to those, they also asked which school DD's siblings attend. Most of the time we were discussing DD's health issue, and the implications of that.... how it affected her on the day, how it affects her in general, what can be done to alleviate it, how does the school deal with it. We spent very little time discussing DD's academic results, school work etc. Presumably they spoke for themselves.
Have you looked at the questions and answers section of the Appeals section?
Very best wishes.
Have you looked at the questions and answers section of the Appeals section?
Very best wishes.
