212 Mark for Bishop Vesey Birmingham should i appeal?

[thelight]

Hi all

congrats to all who got in to the school of your choices. we unfortunaly did not even get the comp school we put on our form.

our son scored 212 for BV and the last intake was 215. he is no 59 on the waiting list. it seems impossible that he will be called. we are so upset i cant beleive this is happening to us,we dont no were its went wrong. he is in top groups for maths english working toward level 5 and predicted level 5 for sats if not above. he is consistenly achieving high marks in mock exams.

i dont know if i should appeal. he didnt get into kes either we wrote to them just notifying our continued interest but they said they have had 20 letters like ours!!!

i know a lot of bright boys dont get in every year but we do believe our son has great ability and is suitated to grammar school his form teacher agrees. do you think it is worth appealing on academic grounds?

thank you

[mystery]

Well there's no harm in trying; I would certainly give it a go.

Can you have a look at his papers to see what happened on the day? Have you read all the advice in the stickies on academic evidence?

[thelight]

ye i have looked at all the sticky stuff , he came out crying he was so nervous and had been of school the week before with stomach bug...

im just so upset at the moment have no energy for anything dont know if i will have strength to go through with it....

[fm]

KENR, the moderator on the Birmingham section has written:

Don't forget that anyone considering appealing and wants advice or information should post this on the Appeals Forum and include B/Ham and the score in the title.

I would think this includes Bishop Vesey's. Although it is not a KE, it is now the same exam.

You won't get in off the waiting list, I am afraid, so, to have any chance, it would have to be an appeal. I know it is extremely difficult to win an appeal for the KE schools (about 5 in 180 appeals are successful) but possibly there is a different process for Bishop Vesey's.

Many boys in the city and beyond will have failed to secure a grammar even though they are already level 5's across the board so I think you would need stronger academic evidence than this. Kenr, however, will have a better idea how to proceed than I do.

[thelight]

thanks FM

i did contact KenR he has informed to get in touch with the LEA and take it from there as not much is known on BV appeals

[Bailey]

I don't have much advice I'm afraid, just wanted to empathise with you. My son is 59th on the waiting list for our local GS too. (I'm thinking about appeal, see my thread!)

It's hard, I'm not 100% sure it's worth appealing in our situation, and I know it's going to be a horrible process, but I feel like I can't do nothing IYSWIM!

The only thing I can think of that might help you is to ask the school for the invigilators (sp!) report. I didn't know anything about this, but when I rang our GS to ask for his scores, the lady offered to look at the report after I pushed her slightly. If your son came out crying and upset, the invigilator may have noted something, which may help strengthen an appeal, especially as your son came so close.

Hope that helps.

[thelight]

Thank you Bailey

i will try that i am going to appeal as i have nothing to lose! good luck with yur appeal hope it is successful.

[Bailey]

You're welcome! Nothing to lose is my thought exactly! I'm not even going to tell my son that we are doing it. Good Luck with your appeal too.