11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi everyone,
I am currently writing my statement for my appeal hearing on the 28th and have suddenly started to panic about how standard my argument is going to be. My daughter got 116 and 118 in the exam. She has HT rating of 2:1, predicted all 5's (school wont do sub levels) for ks2 sats, CAT scores from yr 4 of VR 127, NVR 141 and Q 115 and latest reading age of 15+. We have no mitigating circumstances. Initially, I felt confident that we have a good case and have included good school reports from yrs 4 and 5. However, the more I read on here and the closer I get to the hearing, I am thinking that there are so many people going to appeal with all the same criteria. So, I am wondering if my argument is going to sound so commonplace that I need to find something to make it stand out, maybe a particular point to push, or to just state the academic evidence and hope the panel are feeling generous. Any advice gratefully recieved

I am wondering if my argument is going to sound so commonplace that I need to find something to make it stand out, maybe a particular point to push

There's no need to worry. Each case is considered on its own merits. Besides, I wouldn't have thought there are huge numbers of appellants with NVR 141 and reading age of 15+.

Thanks Etienne, I didnt think I would get this nervous about it all and I still have a week to wait

Friend's child just received results of a successful appeal with scores of 117 and 118 with no extenuating circumstances. Mum said she felt the appeal could have gone either way - had strong academic performance and particularly on the non-verbal side with the CAT scores. As your child also got an amazing 141 score on a non-verbal test this will hopefully help your cause too.

The HT recommendations were very accurate and she said the panel really seemed to put a lot of weight behind that.

Good Luck for next week.

The comment about the panel putting weight behind the HT recommendations has me wondering now..our HT recommendations seemed pretty good tooo, but the topic never got mentioned at all..not even the rating that DD was given was discussed. That has me wondering now whether a panel always examine the HT accuracy before each case, and tick a box so to speak..or do we have to particularly raise the point in discussion in order to make sure it doesn't get looked over or even just to stress it as a supporting piece of evidence?? Sorry it may seem a daft question Etienne, but the appeal post mortem is almost worse than the prelude!

mm23292 wrote: the appeal post mortem is almost worse than the prelude!

That has me wondering now whether a panel always examine the HT accuracy before each case, and tick a box so to speak..

I wouldn't have thought so, but there's quite likely to be someone on the panel who will have noticed how accurate the recommendations proved to be.

Today my daughter brought home the results of her sat mocks which she took last week. I asked the teacher if she could write them out for me for possible inclusion in my appeal. They are, Maths 5b, Reading 5a, Writing 5c , Science 5c. Would it be advisable to include these or leave it out? Also what final levels at end of year 6 would be expected from these results? Also how many sub levels are children expected to achieve each year?
Sorry for all the questions. Sats are a mystery to me, I never thought much about them till launching our appeal

2 sub-levels per year would be the expected progression, so it would be reasonable to add on 1 sub-level now for an estimate.

Seems to be on target for sound level 5s. Worth including, I think!

Shelstar wrote:Today my daughter brought home the results of her sat mocks which she took last week. I asked the teacher if she could write them out for me for possible inclusion in my appeal. They are, Maths 5b, Reading 5a, Writing 5c , Science 5c. Would it be advisable to include these or leave it out?

Yes - do include this in your presetation. We took copies of our DCs current level of working (they did mock SATS in the September) - our DCs teacher also wrote down for us our DCs predicted end of year SATs level. We then highlighted this in our presentation .."as you can see the tests held at the beginning of Y6 showed DC already to be working at L? and with the level of work they are now working at, they are predicted to achieve a L? in the KS2 SATS in May/end of year."

It helps to show the panel that your DC is not only working within SATs L5 but at a higher level, which is what they are looking for.

heartmum wrote:We then highlighted this in our presentation .."as you can see the tests held at the beginning of Y6 showed DC already to be working at L? and with the level of work they are now working at, they are predicted to achieve a L? in the KS2 SATS in May/end of year."

Unless the school has confirmed the expected KS2 sub-levels in writing, I would be inclined not to use the word "predicted" because a panel member could ask "where is the proof of that?"

Instead I would say that, "with the expected rate of progress of two sub-levels per year, the final SATs seem likely to be ...", or words to that effect.

A minor change, but it doesn't leave you open to challenge in the same way as a strong assertion might do.