11 Plus Exams Forum

I went for my child's appeal. In addition to putting forward that he is an accademically capable child (score fell short by 3 marks) I also said about his participation in sports and other facets of school life. I feel highlighting extra curricular activities and supporting letters from coaches are important way of showing the hard working nature of the child and positive attitude towards learning. It also shows that child is producing good results in studies and at same time managing learning important skills which sure can improve accademic learning. I will appreciate members view on this please?

Hope appeal went OK,

the usual advice re this is that the most important element of the appeal for non qualification is the evidence you can provide of academic ability. It is important to use this to demonstrate that the exam result was not a true relection of their ability.

if you then have to appeal for oversubscription as well you have to explain why the school you have appealed to is the right one for your child ie special interests, subjects taught etc..

Being good, or focused, at a sport will not prove how academic they are. It is entirely possible for children of average or below average intelligence to be dedicated to practicing. I fear the panel might just glance at letters from sports (or music) coaches - in the same way they they could just glance at a certificate proving that the child is good at handicrafts or has had a poem published in a book that prints all the poems submitted to it (then selling copies of the book to loving parents / grandparents). These are all nice things for you to have, but are unlikely to swing an appeal in your favour. If, however, you had a certificate suggesting high academic ability in maths / english, that would be worth sending in.