Failed English, school in special measures, mitigating?
Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 2:30 am
Hi
I am in Kent, DD scored the following: Reasoning 109, Maths 106, English 98 - 313 in total vs the pass of 320. Not sure but does that mean she's actually 9 marks off as only one paper can be 106, other two have to be 107 or above?
Anyway, I honestly believe the result does not match up to her ability and potential. I have been urged by the Head and Deputy Head to appeal as they feel GS is right for her. The school did do an HTA for her but it was turned down due to there not being enough evidence in the work submitted. This is exactly what I feared would happen in the event she did not pass the English paper outright. What I would like to know is how I approach this within the appeal. This isn't just a case of mentioning the OFSTED report as there is other information I would like to include. I'm just not sure if it counts as mitigating circumstance or not.
The school had been in special measures for eighteen months, only coming out in late July 2014. Whilst the new Head has done a very good job of improving the school in general there have been a lot of issues throughout this time - one of which was hanging on to and/or recruiting good teachers. My DD had five (yes, five) different teachers for Literacy throughout Y5 (though she did attain Level 4A at the end of Y5 and has always been in the top set). I feel this has left her with fundamental gaps in knowledge. The Literacy work books were taken away and new ones begun (when a different strategy was decided upon/new teacher started) no less than four times. The last Literacy book contains an example where my daughter had spelt a word correctly 'repeatedly' but the teacher had highlighted it as incorrect - giving her attempt at spelling it 'repeatidly' - and made my daughter write the incorrect spelling three times - presumably just to make absolutely she will never know how to spell it! What chance did she have!? Both myself and my DH have been in to the school, on many occasions during Y5, to check the class work books and each time we raised a concern we were assured that steps were being taken to improve things and that it would all be alright in the end, work would be there in the books and of sufficient quality etc etc. Each time we were let down. I jonestly don't know more we could have done (got a tutor probably!) The Head Teacher did state in the HTA that my DD had been let down by the school being in special measures but of course did not specifically mention the details. Only five children passed the Kent Test from our school this year (it's normally between 12-15) I have since found out that there are five other children in almost exactly the same situation - failed English, same reason for HTA being turned down, all from DD's Literacy group (the top set!). However, there were two children who also failed English but did get the HTA - guess what? They weren't in DD's Literacy group, they were in the other Literacy group that only had the one consistent teacher all year and there were no problems with the classwork (one of them is a DD of a close friend so she gave me all her info), this child was a Level 4B at the end of Y5, so assessed as lower Level than my DD but because the classwork was all present and correct she got through (quite right too, she deserved to). I feel there must be a case here? And although all appeals should be about the individual child, I am wondering if we should all get together and make this part of it at least, the same? Won't an appeals board start to think there's something gone a bit wrong if they are hearing the same story from five or six people? I have only pieced this all together after the results came out and have gradually got more and more angry. And if anyone is wondering why I didn't do something like get a tutor, it's because I genuinely believed them each time they said it would all be sorted out in time and the work would be fine.....what an idiot.
I am in Kent, DD scored the following: Reasoning 109, Maths 106, English 98 - 313 in total vs the pass of 320. Not sure but does that mean she's actually 9 marks off as only one paper can be 106, other two have to be 107 or above?
Anyway, I honestly believe the result does not match up to her ability and potential. I have been urged by the Head and Deputy Head to appeal as they feel GS is right for her. The school did do an HTA for her but it was turned down due to there not being enough evidence in the work submitted. This is exactly what I feared would happen in the event she did not pass the English paper outright. What I would like to know is how I approach this within the appeal. This isn't just a case of mentioning the OFSTED report as there is other information I would like to include. I'm just not sure if it counts as mitigating circumstance or not.
The school had been in special measures for eighteen months, only coming out in late July 2014. Whilst the new Head has done a very good job of improving the school in general there have been a lot of issues throughout this time - one of which was hanging on to and/or recruiting good teachers. My DD had five (yes, five) different teachers for Literacy throughout Y5 (though she did attain Level 4A at the end of Y5 and has always been in the top set). I feel this has left her with fundamental gaps in knowledge. The Literacy work books were taken away and new ones begun (when a different strategy was decided upon/new teacher started) no less than four times. The last Literacy book contains an example where my daughter had spelt a word correctly 'repeatedly' but the teacher had highlighted it as incorrect - giving her attempt at spelling it 'repeatidly' - and made my daughter write the incorrect spelling three times - presumably just to make absolutely she will never know how to spell it! What chance did she have!? Both myself and my DH have been in to the school, on many occasions during Y5, to check the class work books and each time we raised a concern we were assured that steps were being taken to improve things and that it would all be alright in the end, work would be there in the books and of sufficient quality etc etc. Each time we were let down. I jonestly don't know more we could have done (got a tutor probably!) The Head Teacher did state in the HTA that my DD had been let down by the school being in special measures but of course did not specifically mention the details. Only five children passed the Kent Test from our school this year (it's normally between 12-15) I have since found out that there are five other children in almost exactly the same situation - failed English, same reason for HTA being turned down, all from DD's Literacy group (the top set!). However, there were two children who also failed English but did get the HTA - guess what? They weren't in DD's Literacy group, they were in the other Literacy group that only had the one consistent teacher all year and there were no problems with the classwork (one of them is a DD of a close friend so she gave me all her info), this child was a Level 4B at the end of Y5, so assessed as lower Level than my DD but because the classwork was all present and correct she got through (quite right too, she deserved to). I feel there must be a case here? And although all appeals should be about the individual child, I am wondering if we should all get together and make this part of it at least, the same? Won't an appeals board start to think there's something gone a bit wrong if they are hearing the same story from five or six people? I have only pieced this all together after the results came out and have gradually got more and more angry. And if anyone is wondering why I didn't do something like get a tutor, it's because I genuinely believed them each time they said it would all be sorted out in time and the work would be fine.....what an idiot.