Help Please
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Help Please
Hi please can anyone help.
My Son is an "A" student at his school and with his tutors and he was predicted if not guaranteed that he will fly throught his 11plus exam without any difficulty. He has had a tutor for over 2 years and has continued to understand and do well in his subjects , in addition he was going to an additonal specical classes for 11+ for over 6 months.
On getting his results he failed with an average mark of less than 50% , which of course did not get him into any grammar school.
His Grandmum passed away unfortuately in End July , whom lived with him with his Grandad and us, he was left numb and very hurt after her death as he was very close to her. His grades declined in the months following , then after great effort he pulled him self together. On the night before the exam he asked for a photo of his grandmother(whom he called "Mom") , which we want sure if it was a good idea , but we put a little photo for him without him knowing in his pencil case.
On the morning of his exam he was violenty sick on the road side after asking us to stop the car. He got to the exam , finished it and didnt really comment.
We dont understand what went wrong , but this bright young lads future in schooling has all been decided by 1 exam which he done bad in itand really not his fault. Tutor are shocked and said it cant be and there must be a mix up of names . The school also are shocked by the results and cannot understand it and say it can only be "Nerves". Both are supporting us with letters stating his past results and academic brilliance and there shock and dismay.
We wish to appeal but wondered if there was any help or advise out there.
Can any one help ?
Thank you for listening.
A very distressed parent.
My Son is an "A" student at his school and with his tutors and he was predicted if not guaranteed that he will fly throught his 11plus exam without any difficulty. He has had a tutor for over 2 years and has continued to understand and do well in his subjects , in addition he was going to an additonal specical classes for 11+ for over 6 months.
On getting his results he failed with an average mark of less than 50% , which of course did not get him into any grammar school.
His Grandmum passed away unfortuately in End July , whom lived with him with his Grandad and us, he was left numb and very hurt after her death as he was very close to her. His grades declined in the months following , then after great effort he pulled him self together. On the night before the exam he asked for a photo of his grandmother(whom he called "Mom") , which we want sure if it was a good idea , but we put a little photo for him without him knowing in his pencil case.
On the morning of his exam he was violenty sick on the road side after asking us to stop the car. He got to the exam , finished it and didnt really comment.
We dont understand what went wrong , but this bright young lads future in schooling has all been decided by 1 exam which he done bad in itand really not his fault. Tutor are shocked and said it cant be and there must be a mix up of names . The school also are shocked by the results and cannot understand it and say it can only be "Nerves". Both are supporting us with letters stating his past results and academic brilliance and there shock and dismay.
We wish to appeal but wondered if there was any help or advise out there.
Can any one help ?
Thank you for listening.
A very distressed parent.
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Chelmsford mum
- Posts: 2113
- Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:16 pm
Hello,
I am so so sorry for the stressful circumstances you find yourself in.
Hopefully someone will come along who knows about appeals to help you.
Longer term I just wanted to say that all the grammars in Essex have places available from time to time and therefore have a sort of 12 +.If nothing else do not give up hope for the future.
Very best wishes and I am sure some of the wise owls on this section will be along soon.
I am so so sorry for the stressful circumstances you find yourself in.
Hopefully someone will come along who knows about appeals to help you.
Longer term I just wanted to say that all the grammars in Essex have places available from time to time and therefore have a sort of 12 +.If nothing else do not give up hope for the future.
Very best wishes and I am sure some of the wise owls on this section will be along soon.
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hermanmunster
- Posts: 12892
- Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
- Location: The Seaside
Hello
I am very sorry to hear about the disappointing result. If you feel you have enough evidence of academic ability / mitigating circumstances you can have a go at appealing. Have a read of the following:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... php?t=8255
Do you happend to know of his score / rank results ? - this may give you some idea about how far away he was from passing. Obviously you tend to have more succwess at appeals if you are fairly near the pass marks / marks of last child admitted.
I am very sorry to hear about the disappointing result. If you feel you have enough evidence of academic ability / mitigating circumstances you can have a go at appealing. Have a read of the following:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... php?t=8255
Do you happend to know of his score / rank results ? - this may give you some idea about how far away he was from passing. Obviously you tend to have more succwess at appeals if you are fairly near the pass marks / marks of last child admitted.
Hello rajk and welcome,
I am sorry that you find yourself in this distressing position. All appeals against non-qualification will depend firstly on being able to present enough evidence to demonstrate convincingly that the child has the ability required for the school in question, despite the fact that they did not pass the exam and secondly, if relevant, that any mitigating circumstances are sufficient to explain the shortfall in marks.
The further away from the passmark the more difficult the task. I am not absolutely clear from what you have written how far short your son has fallen but it sounds as though it may be by a considerable amount. If this is the case then I think you must be realistic, know that you have an uphill task and appeal in hope rather than in expectation.
You will need to gather as much hard evidence of academic ability as possible, not just opinions, but curriculum levels, results in any standardised tests such as NfER or CATS, successes in any competitive academic endeavour such as the School Maths Challenge etc. It may be worth your while getting an Educational Psychologist’s report if you do not have sufficient evidence and bearing in mind you need as much as you can possibly gather.
Similarly you have strong mitigating circumstances with the death of a dearly loved Grandmum who lived in the household but you will need to demonstrate how the sad events in your son’s life affected him. Can his school teachers testify that his work and academic performance dropped off? Has there been an improvement subsequently as time has gone on?
It sounds to me that your son was thoroughly distressed both the day before and on the day of the exam, not merely suffering from “nervesâ€
I am sorry that you find yourself in this distressing position. All appeals against non-qualification will depend firstly on being able to present enough evidence to demonstrate convincingly that the child has the ability required for the school in question, despite the fact that they did not pass the exam and secondly, if relevant, that any mitigating circumstances are sufficient to explain the shortfall in marks.
The further away from the passmark the more difficult the task. I am not absolutely clear from what you have written how far short your son has fallen but it sounds as though it may be by a considerable amount. If this is the case then I think you must be realistic, know that you have an uphill task and appeal in hope rather than in expectation.
You will need to gather as much hard evidence of academic ability as possible, not just opinions, but curriculum levels, results in any standardised tests such as NfER or CATS, successes in any competitive academic endeavour such as the School Maths Challenge etc. It may be worth your while getting an Educational Psychologist’s report if you do not have sufficient evidence and bearing in mind you need as much as you can possibly gather.
Similarly you have strong mitigating circumstances with the death of a dearly loved Grandmum who lived in the household but you will need to demonstrate how the sad events in your son’s life affected him. Can his school teachers testify that his work and academic performance dropped off? Has there been an improvement subsequently as time has gone on?
It sounds to me that your son was thoroughly distressed both the day before and on the day of the exam, not merely suffering from “nervesâ€
Hi Hermanhermanmunster wrote:Hello
I am very sorry to hear about the disappointing result. If you feel you have enough evidence of academic ability / mitigating circumstances you can have a go at appealing. Have a read of the following:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... php?t=8255
Do you happend to know of his score / rank results ? - this may give you some idea about how far away he was from passing. Obviously you tend to have more succwess at appeals if you are fairly near the pass marks / marks of last child admitted.
Thanks for your advise , I have read the link .
The problem is that his results were very poor 277 weighted score , when absolute min for grammar school is 303. His percentage scored worked out at 43% , and his regular average is 80% for the last year with school and 90% with tutor.
This is one of the main reason its so shocking and unbelieveable , thts why we know something is definetly not right.
[quote="Alex"]Hello rajk and welcome,
I am sorry that you find yourself in this distressing position. All appeals against non-qualification will depend firstly on being able to present enough evidence to demonstrate convincingly that the child has the ability required for the school in question, despite the fact that they did not pass the exam and secondly, if relevant, that any mitigating circumstances are sufficient to explain the shortfall in marks.
The further away from the passmark the more difficult the task. I am not absolutely clear from what you have written how far short your son has fallen but it sounds as though it may be by a considerable amount. If this is the case then I think you must be realistic, know that you have an uphill task and appeal in hope rather than in expectation.
You will need to gather as much hard evidence of academic ability as possible, not just opinions, but curriculum levels, results in any standardised tests such as NfER or CATS, successes in any competitive academic endeavour such as the School Maths Challenge etc. It may be worth your while getting an Educational Psychologist’s report if you do not have sufficient evidence and bearing in mind you need as much as you can possibly gather.
Similarly you have strong mitigating circumstances with the death of a dearly loved Grandmum who lived in the household but you will need to demonstrate how the sad events in your son’s life affected him. Can his school teachers testify that his work and academic performance dropped off? Has there been an improvement subsequently as time has gone on?
It sounds to me that your son was thoroughly distressed both the day before and on the day of the exam, not merely suffering from “nervesâ€
I am sorry that you find yourself in this distressing position. All appeals against non-qualification will depend firstly on being able to present enough evidence to demonstrate convincingly that the child has the ability required for the school in question, despite the fact that they did not pass the exam and secondly, if relevant, that any mitigating circumstances are sufficient to explain the shortfall in marks.
The further away from the passmark the more difficult the task. I am not absolutely clear from what you have written how far short your son has fallen but it sounds as though it may be by a considerable amount. If this is the case then I think you must be realistic, know that you have an uphill task and appeal in hope rather than in expectation.
You will need to gather as much hard evidence of academic ability as possible, not just opinions, but curriculum levels, results in any standardised tests such as NfER or CATS, successes in any competitive academic endeavour such as the School Maths Challenge etc. It may be worth your while getting an Educational Psychologist’s report if you do not have sufficient evidence and bearing in mind you need as much as you can possibly gather.
Similarly you have strong mitigating circumstances with the death of a dearly loved Grandmum who lived in the household but you will need to demonstrate how the sad events in your son’s life affected him. Can his school teachers testify that his work and academic performance dropped off? Has there been an improvement subsequently as time has gone on?
It sounds to me that your son was thoroughly distressed both the day before and on the day of the exam, not merely suffering from “nervesâ€
Hi,
I'm not sure an appeals solicitor would be able to give you much advice other than that available here. If there had been a serious maladministration on the part of the school / LEA, and they were not acknowledging it, then maybe a solicitor would be helpful - but Independent Appeals Panels are designed to work on Natural Justice, and be available to anyone without legal knowledge. In all the years I've sat on them, I've never seen a case where a parent has been represented by a solicitor (though I have had cases where the parent was themselves a solicitor) - maybe my area is unusual.
The Ed Psych is a good idea, although there is always a slim chance that they might tell you what you don't want to hear - you don't have to submit the report to the panel if it doesn't help your case.
Details of KS1 SATS, optional Y4/5 SATS if the school does them, predicted KS2 SATS (though they are subjective) and any CATS data the school has (you may have to gently push them to get it) will be very, very useful for the panel, as they would then be able to see that your child is suitable for a grammar and just had a blip on the day.
I'm curious why you had a tutor for the last 2 years (as well as an 11+ tutor for 6 months) - what was the tutor teaching? I can understand 6 months of 11+ tuition, as that amount would put your son on a level playing field with other children being tutored for the exam, though the exam is designed to be passable without tuition; hence I'd be reluctant to mention a tutor at the appeal - panels might think 'had 2 years tuition and still didn't pass the test'.
Family doctor letter is good, and there should be no need to send a death certificate for his grandmother!
I'm not sure an appeals solicitor would be able to give you much advice other than that available here. If there had been a serious maladministration on the part of the school / LEA, and they were not acknowledging it, then maybe a solicitor would be helpful - but Independent Appeals Panels are designed to work on Natural Justice, and be available to anyone without legal knowledge. In all the years I've sat on them, I've never seen a case where a parent has been represented by a solicitor (though I have had cases where the parent was themselves a solicitor) - maybe my area is unusual.
The Ed Psych is a good idea, although there is always a slim chance that they might tell you what you don't want to hear - you don't have to submit the report to the panel if it doesn't help your case.
Details of KS1 SATS, optional Y4/5 SATS if the school does them, predicted KS2 SATS (though they are subjective) and any CATS data the school has (you may have to gently push them to get it) will be very, very useful for the panel, as they would then be able to see that your child is suitable for a grammar and just had a blip on the day.
I'm curious why you had a tutor for the last 2 years (as well as an 11+ tutor for 6 months) - what was the tutor teaching? I can understand 6 months of 11+ tuition, as that amount would put your son on a level playing field with other children being tutored for the exam, though the exam is designed to be passable without tuition; hence I'd be reluctant to mention a tutor at the appeal - panels might think 'had 2 years tuition and still didn't pass the test'.
Family doctor letter is good, and there should be no need to send a death certificate for his grandmother!
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