Success rates for grammar school appeals
Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:02 am
Anonymous wrote:Hi Etienne,
King Edward VI (KEGS) Grammar School in Chelmsford, Essex, which along with the The Royal Grammar School in Colchester, is the most over-subscribed boys school in the county, have let it be known that only 1 appeal has ever succeeded in the last 12+ years. I also have a friend who works in appeals administration in the Manchester area and she tells me that there is also a very low success rate in appeals there. Is this a pattern across the counties that have grammar schools or are some authorities more sympathetic to appeals than others?
Thanks
Etienne wrote:Dear Guest
Nationally, approx. 30-40% of appeals are successful. The last figures I saw can be found here:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR ... 1_2005.pdf
The most striking difference seems to be not between grammar and other types of school, but between local authority and non-local authority schools.
The success rate for foundation and VA schools tends to be around 10% lower than usual (i.e. approx. 20-30%). I have written elsewhere of my reservations about the conduct of appeals in some non-LEA schools. See, for example, section A5:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/11plus ... nswers.php
The ombudsman, in his special report on appeals, wrote: "We have observed differences in performance between LEAs and other admission authorities ..... we found faults proportionately in virtually twice as many cases involving other admission authorities as compared with cases involving LEAs (39% and 20% respectively)."
Regards
Anonymous wrote:Hi Etienne,
Many thanks for your detailled answer. I looked at the DFES document but it doesn't appear to break down the appeals between selective and non-selective schools. I have little evidence to support it, other than general conversations I've had with parents who have gone through the 11+ system but I'm ready to bet (and I am guessing) that a 20% sucess rate of Grammar school appeals may be a tad high. Would appreciate your thoughts. I guess what I'm suggesting is that if a child has on average a 30% chance at appeal, and as parents you feel he or she has a good case, then it's definetely worth going for but if it's less than 5%, which my gut feeling tells me it must be at the Grammars, then, for me, it's probably not worth the stress.
Dear GuestGuest55 wrote:Buckinghamshire publish their selection appeals data each year - it is even broken down by score - about 38% were successful last year. obviously most were 116+ but not all.
So no-one should be put off - it IS different when you are appealing to a single school as the school is also probably full. Allocation appeals are dealt with separately in Buckinghamshire.
I’m afraid I’m not aware of any national statistics that show the success rate for grammar school appeals separately.
Guest55 has given the figure for appeals against non-qualification in Buckinghamshire (an authority with a very good reputation for the amount of information it makes available). I would just add that Bucks is wholly selective, and handles up to a thousand 11+ appeals a year. The success rate is regularly around 40%. However, when it comes to appeals against non-allocation (i.e. the pupil is deemed qualified, but the Bucks controlled grammar school has no spare places), I’m told that the success rate drops to 26% (compared with 64% for other Bucks controlled secondary schools).
I agree with what is implicit in your comments – that parents ought to have some indication of the chances of a successful appeal.
I think foundation grammar schools that handle their own appeals should voluntarily publish each year the number of appeals heard, with a breakdown of those that are successful and unsuccessful. If they do not do so, then I hope some local parents will be prepared to demand the statistics under the Freedom of Information Act.
If it were to come to light that the success rate for a particular foundation school is only 5% or less, then I hope unsuccessful appellants will firstly start to ask questions:
* “Why are the figures so out of line with the national statistics?”
* “Who appoints the appeal panel members, and on what basis?”
* "Who trains them and how often?"
* "How many panel members are available in total, and how long has each person been hearing appeals for this school?"
- and secondly will ask to see the minutes of their hearing under the Data Protection Act (to check, among other things, whether the decision-making appears to have been clear and fair).
Just my view!
Regards