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Warring Parents

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 2:03 pm
by Sian
Due to an imminent Court case re Contact, I was to attend the Appeal alone. The extenuating circumstances involve events that will be used shortly at Court.
My ex husband has now decided he will go to the Appeal. County have said that I will be able to be interviewed alone.
I don't know how much of behaviour of the parents to reveal to the Panel. I have already written the basics. Should I concentrate only on the 120/115 mark and historically good school results and strong recommendations of the school.
On another point how important is the ranking? My son was ranked 12 but achieved 8th place after the 11+ results. Is this a good point to bring up or does it show the school's ranking is not particularly accurate?

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 2:46 pm
by Guest55
I am so sorry you are having to cope with all this.

Focus on the academic first but you can make reference to the situtaion as it must have affected the whole family.

How accurate was the ranking? Did the 1's match score of 130+ etc? Does the Head strongly recommend etc.

I will be thinking of you -

Guest 55

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 3:04 pm
by Sian
Thanks so much for your comments.

Only 5 of the 9 ranked ahead of my son attained a pass mark. The head has commended him for a Grammar School place.

He lives with this situation and the inflexibility of his dad so it does have a general effect but as an on the day it was just that he was distracted by his role in the forthcoming court case.

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 3:16 pm
by Guest55
The 120 is close - that's encouraging.

The court case must have been on his mind so will have affected performance. You will need to explain something about these 'mitigating circumstances' as the panel need to understand his distress.

Hopefully Etienne will see your post and give you the benfit of her opinion.

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:37 pm
by Etienne
Dear Sian

I agree with Guest55's comments. Make the academic case - you must convince the panel that 120 is a better indication of your son's ability than 115, and that his score should have been even higher.

I would suggest giving only the basic details of the extenuating circumstances in your presentation - wait for the panel to ask you questions, and then try to give them as much information as they need.

They will realise that the circumstances have been ongoing for some time, so one question they are almost sure to ask is whether there was anything particular happening at the time of the tests.

I don't think I would draw attention to the rankings.

Best wishes

Warring Parents

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:20 pm
by Sian
Thank you so much for the reply. It is much appreciated. Now I have limited my case tomorrow to what happened on the two days of the test.

Not to mention the ranking? Would it be impertinent to ask why? Does it show as a friend suggested that it says more about the school's results than it does about the ability of my boy?

This has been a massive help and a big thank you to my friend who advised me to share my worries here.

If my ex does arrive I know that I will be allowed to see the panel alone but I've no idea what he will say. It's all a bit of a mess.

Regards

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 7:29 pm
by Etienne
Dear Sian

I got the impression that the O. of S. might not have been very accurate. If your son had been the first pupil on the list not to qualify, then this could have been a good point to make.

Irrespective of anything you say, the panel will note your son's ranking, and will form their own judgement about how realistic the head's list was.

Best of luck for tomorrow.