11 Plus Exams Forum

Hello - I would be very grateful for some advice - my dd missed out by 3 marks at our local grammar school. I am a teacher at her current school where about 30 other girls did pass the test. I have access to their previous SATS/tests results and know if the appeal panel knew these results they would see my daughter is 'ranked' higher than most of the 30 girls that got in. She was overwhelmed on the day, (and missed out about 4 sections on the verbal paper) as in the past the exam was in classrooms and this year for the first time they did the exam in 2 rooms - one, my daughter was in, was a huge room with double the number of girls in it than the other: What am I allowed to say or produce in terms of evidence for the inschool results I have under the data protection act (can I print them out without names on?) and can we say anything about her being disadvantaged being in a room with twice as many girls in it?
We are appealing on accademic grounds but also social as ALL her friends have got in and she hasn't. She is currently on our schools gifted and talented register for Art and design technology.
Thanks in advance for any help!

I would concentrate on collecting as much academic evidence as possible such as year 5 report, CATS, other evidence of high ability such as chess champion, music exams etc. Also look at why your first choice school is the most suitable for her. I don't know about comparing with the other children, but my gut feeling is to focus on your child and the academic rather than social reasons.

In addition, I am not sure you could successfully argue that your daughter was at a disadvantage due to the large exam room - the panel may question her suitability for grammar school as there will be pressures at grammar school too - unless something happened during the course of the exam?

Mmmmm not comfortable from a data protection angle personally, in any case I do not see why it will help? Surely a panel doesn't determine your DD's academic ability by looking at her in comparison to others in her school, apart from saying she is top set etc, its about your DD. By doing this you are almost focusing on the other DC's and their school results in comparison to them passing, which I cant imagine strengthening your case, but diverting attention. At the end of the day on the day they did pass - as frustrating as it may be if your DD is brighter. But this is about proving her ability, not evidencing the fact that others who did pass are doing less well at school. Rather than trying to bring in the negatives of those who passed, I would focus on the positives of your DD and how well she is doing etc, top set etc. Re the room issue - my initial thought is that, if that room had the largest number of children, then lots of children were in the same boat as your DD, so not sure of the argument there. Am sure the experts will be along to give you some fab advice soon and they are brilliant .

What am I allowed to say or produce in terms of evidence for the inschool results I have under the data protection act (can I print them out without names on?)

I don't think you can use other children's data for your own purposes, and I would advise you to tread very, very carefully! If you handle personal information about individuals, you have a number of legal obligations to protect that information under the Data Protection Act 1998. In practice, it means that you must have legitimate grounds for collecting and using the personal data ........ be transparent about how you intend to use the data ........ handle people’s personal data only in ways they would reasonably expect ........ and make sure you do not do anything unlawful with the data.

It would be entirely legitimate to argue that your daughter has consistently performed better than those pupils who have gained a place - but for that you should rely on a letter from the headteacher, confirming that the school would rank your daughter more highly.

and can we say anything about her being disadvantaged being in a room with twice as many girls in it?

It might be worth a brief mention, but I would caution that - generally speaking - panels tend not to give a huge amount of weight to the size of room, number of candidates, shuffling of chairs, children fidgeting, coughing, crying, etc.

She was overwhelmed on the day, (and missed out about 4 sections on the verbal paper) as in the past the exam was in classrooms and this year for the first time they did the exam in 2 rooms - one, my daughter was in, was a huge room with double the number of girls in it than the other

This could be quite a strong argument if there is a history of her being nervous or vulnerable - and evidence to support it.

We are appealing on accademic grounds but also social as ALL her friends have got in and she hasn't.

Probably worth a mention, but the panel will want to know if there's a strong social reason underlying this. See the example in C2:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... -school#c2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

She is currently on our schools gifted and talented register for Art and design technology.

If this is relevant to the school being appealed for, and there is written evidence to back it up, that would be helpful.