140/128/104 'Bad Day at the office fail'

[Disappointed]

Hi,

We received my sons results today and he seems to have had what I would call a 'Bad Day at the office' fail ... he got 140 in NVR, 128 in VR and a very surprisngly 104 for Maths (he got a 4A in his Maths mock SATS earlier in the year and so I guess you could say he was on track for a 5).

In Kent you needed to get 120/120/115.

I know the Maths is a big miss .. but I am hoping against hope that the excellent 140 in NVR and the good 128 in VR demonstrate that he simply had a bad day when it came to the maths. He has also been assesed by the LEA as having dyslexia.

I would really appreciate peoples candid views if an appeal would stand any chance of success or if we should be adjusting to life at the local comp?

Many thanks,

[HP]

Hi Disappointed,

So sorry for your son, the NVR score is incredibly high, a very bright boy.

Post also in the new SEN section for advice, there are quite a few people who have been in similar situaltion with mixed outcomes.

HP

[Etienne]

Dear Disappointed

If in doubt, I think the starting point should always be to talk to the current headteacher. You are likely to need his/her very strong support if going to appeal.

Good luck

[lesley]

surely it is worth going to appeal..

with such high vr / nvr results you would always wonder what if ....

ask your child if they would want you to,

My daughter just missed out last year by 4 points , she is now at grammar school and doing extremely well and loving it..

[Disappointed]

HP, Etienne and Lesley, many thanks for the replies. We have made an appointment to see the head to discuss further.

Etienne I can see that having the heads support is going to be key. Is the level of support given predetermined (i.e. based on submissions the school would have made prior to the 11+, such as rankings and recommendations) or is it a judgement the head can make in the light of the actual 11+ results and on hearing our grounds for an appeal?

Also, as this is all new to me and is somewhat daunting I would really appreciate your thoughts on any specific information we should request or questions we should ask when we meet the head.

Many thanks again,

[Etienne]

Dear Disappointed

With regard to your first question, I don't know enough about the process in Kent - try putting it to the head.

For an appeal against non-qualification, the first question to ask the head, however, is: will he support you? How strongly?

Secondly, will he predict level 5s for KS2? High level 5s?

Thirdly, if he agrees that your son is on course for level 5 in Maths, will he agree that the Maths result was unexpected and something of a blip?

Fourthly, is there any other evidence (e.g. good CATs results or other standardised scores) that can be used to support your appeal?

Fifthly, would he mind if you approached the class teacher for an additional letter of support, or would this be against school policy?

You should also have a look at your son's last school report and see if there are references to achievement that would support your case.

Hope this helps

[Guest1964]

I'm not from your area, so maybe it's different where I live, but as a Governor, I know that we would only take the dyslexia issue into account if you had advised us of it prior to the application to the school.

Good luck!