11 Plus Exams Forum

Last week we attended the appeals panel and had a sucessful appeal for our son who scored 120/115 on the two papers.

Our submission to the panel included a Headteacher's report who was very supportive and his predictions of 5B's for Maths and Writing and 5A for Reading. He was rated 2/1 (academic/effort). We also submitted his Y5 report as this was part of our evidence.

Our son is a late July child (22nd) and we argued our case on three grounds

1. Academic performance at school
2. Late born summer child who has only engaged with learning recently
3. Out of catchment child who found the process stressful

We prepared an 8 page document with our argumentation on (double spaced so they could write notes) which cross referenced the Headteacher's statement and his Y5 report. One of the key things which helped our case was his KS1 SATS which we 2B's and a 3 so he is predicted a 3 level uplift in Maths and Writing.

For the academic side we also included his Science prediction (High L5).

The evidence we took in addition to our documentation was the 8 page appeal (printed 5 times), his KS1 Sats results and his Y4 report to show engagement with learning from Y5 onwards.

We tried to cover as many points as we could in the submission that we thought they would ask including

Why he got 115 on the second test
His range of reading
Out of school activities
Evidence of academic performance elsewhere
Support from home
How he reacted to not passing
Musical ability

Most of the ideas for our submission came from reading the forums and talking to friends who had been through the appeal.

The panel was very easy and listened attentively. The one tricky question which we had anticipated was why we had no school work, we answered that we didn't want to be seen to 'cherry pick' work, which they seemed to accept. Other questions were around

Did he finish the exam (he did with a few minutes to spare)
How was he on the way to the exam
Was there anyone else from his cohort there
Who helped him prepare (for us as we are out of catchment it was us)
What does he do out of school
What marks did he get at home on the practice test (I said 72/73 out of 80)
How big was the school
What does he do in the gifted Maths Class

The whole interview lasted about 30-40 minutes and the panel were very fair and non threatening.

Thank you for all your posts as it helped us get through the panel and appeals process. If anyone has any questions please let us know.

Good luck to you all.

Congratulations, well done!

What schools are you hoping for?

Good luck for allocations day

Dear msghall,
I have just read your post and I have my appeal tomorrow at 11 so this really hit home.
I just wanted to ask if you are out of catchment then where do you live? if you dont mind me asking and what school are you applying to..We are out of catchment also and have very similar documentation to yourself.
Many thanks for your help
Regards

Thanks for the reply.

We live in Silverstone and are hoping for the Royal Latin in Buckingham.

Hope that helps.

Good luck

Hi Msghall

Congrats on the successful appeal and the info posted about it. We have tried to collate info about appeals in this thread (which remains as a "sticky") so that others can find it. Has proved to be very useful to many people appealing.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... =35&t=9205" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Would you mind posting a copy of your message above on the feedback thread - also adding any other info you may think of?

Any problems, let me know and I will copy it.

mumofthree1972 wrote:I just wanted to ask if you are out of catchment then where do you live? if you dont mind me asking and what school are you applying to..We are out of catchment also and have very similar documentation to yourself.

I am not sure why you are asking the question, but in the context of a Bucks non-qualifciation appeal, it is not relevant whether you live in catchment (or even in county), and nor is the school you are applying for relevant. The appeal is purely about whether a child is deemed suitable for a grammar school - any Bucks grammar school.

Hi Sally-Anne
Many thanks for your reply. I am sorry if I am intruding on this thread I am fairly new to the board.
I am clear that my appeal for non qualification will be a clear win or lose case but I do have a grey area which I am not to sure about.
If I am successful on my appeal then what happens if we are out of catchment? I know they take into consideration milage from the school but at what point do they cut off and do they consider children on merit basis for Burnham Grammer..I am sorry If I appear confused.
I have read and rerread the great information on this site but cannot seem to find an answer to my question which is why I asked this person...
Thanks

mumofthree1972 wrote:I am sorry if I am intruding on this thread I am fairly new to the board.

Not a problem.

If I am successful on my appeal then what happens if we are out of catchment? I know they take into consideration milage from the school but at what point do they cut off and do they consider children on merit basis for Burnham Grammer.

If your appeal is successful the school allocation will depend solely on distance from the school gates, and score does not enter into it. Burnham has historically allocated well beyond catchment - you can view the past allocation distances here: http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/school ... n-profiles" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Please note that they are only past distances, and are therefore only a rough guide to what might happen in future.

Many thanks Sally-Anne,
This is much more clearer although we are 20 miles awy from the school and looking for a home nearer but that does not help us.
Will have to wait and see how it goes.
Thank you.