should we go to appeal following unsuccessful review

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Unhappy123
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:59 pm

should we go to appeal following unsuccessful review

Post by Unhappy123 »

This is our first ever post!
We are, like many others, in the aftermath of an unsuccessful review and wonder whether there is any chance of a successful appeal against the non offer of a grammar school place. We understand that the first part of this is for the IAP to overturn the review on the grounds that it was not fair and consistent before they would then look at the academic evidence again.
our DS scored only 90 in the test, a score that was nowhere near what was expected of him and one that left us all in a state of shock and prompted an immediate response from our head teacher that we should get his paper remarked!(i'm sure we are among many others who found themselves in this same position).
We decided fairly quickly to go for a review because BCC state that' if you feel strongly that your child would be suitable for a grammar school and their test results were not as you expected then you may want to consider requesting a selection review'. We felt this definitely applied to our son and felt that we had the appropriate academic evidence to back this up and were fully supported by the head with a 1:1 recommendation, he also added a very strong paragraph supporting the review.
Our sons progress chart in the HT summary sheet, shows predicted levels at the end of yr 6 as 5a's across the board having achieved 5c's across the board at the end of yr 5. At the end of yr 2 he was on a 2B for reading a 2A for writing and a 3C for maths and we felt that this showed just how much he had developed since then (he is a July baby). He had NFER results in VR of 123 in feb 2013, 128 in maths and 125 in reading in May of the same year. We thought these were a pretty good indication too of his ability although we do not fully understand how they are derived and how they compare to the new style 11+ test.
On our copy of the clerks record of the review is a note stating that the NFER scores were not strong enough to compensate the score of 90. We keep going over this point and wondering if it is a fair comment and wondering whether in fact all low score reviews were simply disregarded. How can we be sure that they gave our review fair consideration or did they just dismiss it in seconds. We held our hands up and told them we could not offer any clues as to why the test result was so low but that it was for that very reason that we were requesting the review.
We are unsure at the moment what to do next, if anything, and would be grateful for any thoughts, comments, recommendations as to our case and the next course of action.
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Re: should we go to appeal following unsuccessful review

Post by Etienne »

Welcome! :)

Not sure what official guidance you were given, but we spelled out the situation on here:
    • For a review, the headteachers manual does state “The SRP [selection review panel] will normally expect there to be strong evidence of both high academic ability and exceptional reasons for underperformance in the tests.” [our emphasis]
      http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... aneous#e33" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm not convinced this was always enforced in practice, but I think it highly likely it would have been for low scores.
any chance of a successful appeal against the non offer of a grammar school place
One never knows!

There is the 'fair, consistent & objective' hurdle which might halt any further consideration of your case - but we know of a lot of cases last year that were found not to have been 'fair, consistent & objective' on appeal.

Then there is the low score.

On the other hand, you have some very good academic evidence. 5c's at the end of year 5, and 5a predictions for KS2 look fine.
123, 128 and 125 in NFER tests seem quite respectable scores.
I note the strong headteacher support. (It would be interesting to know how his other '1' recommendations fared.)
On our copy of the clerks record of the review is a note stating that the NFER scores were not strong enough to compensate the score of 90. We keep going over this point and wondering if it is a fair comment
It begs the question "What scores were they looking for then (and how would those scores be justified)?" That could be a question for an appeal!
and wondering whether in fact all low score reviews were simply disregarded.
Not sure about 90, but we have heard of one or two successes in the mid to upper 90s.
How can we be sure that they gave our review fair consideration or did they just dismiss it in seconds.
Another question for an appeal?

As a rule of thumb - if you're unsure what to do, then appeal.
It may be an uphill struggle, but I think the way to approach this is not with 'high hopes', but simply with a view to wanting some clarification and a 'second opinion'.
Etienne
Unhappy123
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:59 pm

Re: should we go to appeal following unsuccessful review

Post by Unhappy123 »

Thank you for taking the time to reply and breaking it down.
We have some serious thinking to do.
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