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Any tips successful appellants?

Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 9:44 pm
by Scooby
Anyone out there that has been successful recently in their appeals willing to shed any light on why they thought their appeals were winners? It may just help the rest of us.....

Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 9:54 am
by Appeal Mum
Hi Scooby,

Follow all the guidelines on this site, read all the Q&A pages.
Have lots of academic evidence to take with you.

I think It depends on a lot of factors as to if you succeed or not.
I don't think there is any rhyme or reason as to the "secret" of a successful appeal.

You just have to follow Etienne’s tips and have luck on the day.

Just prepare as best you can and take in all up to date scores/SATs/tests they have done.

I wish you all the best Scooby..

Were are you appealing for?

AM

tips for succesful appeal

Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 2:46 pm
by marie
I agree with AM there is absolutely no rhyme or reason - we had two appeals for two grammar schools using exactly the same info e.g results and mitigating circumstances and were successful with one and not with the other!!

the only thing is to take as much evidence as possible

we had sat's scores from end of yr 5, teacger assessed sat scores for sep - march of yr 6 , predicted sat scores for yr 6 most recent nfer scor from jan yr6.

they also had copy of head's report for IAB

we picked up on certain things the lea rep had said in her speel about exceptional circumstances affercting the result and also they had said how they had always used nfer for 11 plus papers and felt good indicator of ability so i stressed nfer score and reiterated how the lea felt this good indicator


feel free to ask other questions

marie

Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 4:53 pm
by Scooby
Thank you both for your replies. I have predicted Sat scores, mock 11 pus results which were very good, headmaster's letter and individual teacher's letters and a personal reference. The school don't do the Nfer papers so I can't take them. Anything else I can take, I am thinking I don't have enough? His report's are good but could go against him in some subjects so I don't think it will be a great idea to take them. What about school books, did either of you take those with you or individual pieces of work? Many thanks again.

Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 6:32 pm
by marie
we didn't take school books, does your sons school use any other kind of system that might be along same lines as nfer?

did you have any mitigating circumstances?

what area are you in? have you looked at the regional forums?

marie

Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 6:41 pm
by Appeal Mum
Hi Scooby..

What SATs marks have you got to take with you? Preferably high level 5s?
Have you still got KS1 showing level 3s?
Any optional SATs in other years that were good?
It all shows consistency through out their education.

We took all school reports and school books, I read a few remarks from school reports saying "How bright a pupil she is". I made a point of telling them "I brought all year reports as we have had nothing but good comments throughout." (Everyone has the odd comment about talking or could try to be neater.)

The panel made it clear they couldn't assess work and school books as they were not qualified to do so. I would still take them as it proves you're not trying to hide anything from them.

You have substantially more than we did. Our head teacher informed us that a protocol had gone around all schools telling them they were not allowed to make comment, so I didn't have anything other than my daughter's marks/scores. (Later found out other head teachers had gone against this so called protocol and sent parents in with glowing letters. :evil: )

Do you have anything in the way of mitigating circumstances as to why your child might not have achieved their full potential on the day?

A few other factors which may have helped us in our appeal was the school was under subscribed, although the LEA claim that doesn't make any difference as they are happy to leave places available.

Scooby just prepare yourself as best you can by asking questions and reading up as many different peoples experiences.
Then no matter what the outcome is you know you have given it your all.

I wish you all the best Scooby if you need anything just ask..

If you register to the site you also get the added bonus of being able to discuss your case with the "Experts" via PM (Private Message.)
You don't get any junk mail so its well worth it..

Take care and all the best..

AM

When is your appeal?