11 Plus Exams Forum

We have an appeal coming up in Bucks for DD (118/117). She was predicted to pass and we have 1:2 support from school, but minor mitigating circumstances only.

When we first realised an appeal would be necessary, I met with the head teacher and with DD's teacher and asked the class teacher whether the school provided any other backup beyond the standard letter. I was told that it was not appropriate for the school to provide anything other than the standard appeal form; ie no additional letters of support could be provided. I have since seen on this forum that many people do have separate, more strongly worded and lengthier, letters of support from head teachers and class teachers (current and previous) to go along with their standard form.

I am now very concerned that the lack of such extra letters will make it look as though the school's support is *not* actually as strong as I believe it is intended to be! Can anybody provide any input on this; does it make a difference to have additional letters from the school? I had thought that the idea of the standard format was to ensure that the different styles of writing from different head teachers had less impact and to enable judgement on a standard setup... am I wrong?

Thank you -- the date for the panel is approaching and I am moving from feeling reasonably well-prepared to panic!

Welcome!

I am now very concerned that the lack of such extra letters will make it look as though the school's support is *not* actually as strong as I believe it is intended to be! Can anybody provide any input on this; does it make a difference to have additional letters from the school?

No, generally speaking I don't think it does.

I had thought that the idea of the standard format was to ensure that the different styles of writing from different head teachers had less impact and to enable judgement on a standard setup... am I wrong?

No!

In my experience the vast majority of cases were supported by just the headteacher's summary sheet. I don't believe for one moment that has changed, and I think what you're seeing on the forum are some isolated cases, not a representative sample.

Rather than adding up letters of support, it would make much more sense to count the different examples of academic evidence set out in the Q&As:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... cation#b11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't panic!

Etienne, thank you so much for your quick and helpful reply. I will practise deep-breathing exercises and continue to reassure myself that the evidence we've assembled is strong!

Thanks again for this and all the other advice I've read on here. It really has been a tremendous help.