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Grammar School appeal due to father's serious illness

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 11:46 am
by Nervydad
Hi
My son narrowly missed out on the pass mark for the local grammar school . However I had been seriously ill during the period of the exams. My son and the whole family was under server stress which we feel would have impacted his performance in exams.

I am try to work out whether we have grounds for appeal. Can anyone advise?

In terms of my son's current academic performance he is in all top sets and predicted to achieve level 6 SAT scores by end of year 6.

What do you think of our chances on appeal? And is there any advice you would give?

Re: Grammar School appeal due to father's serious illness

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 1:04 pm
by DC17C
Hi It is so hard to say what your chances are as every panel is different and it depends on the school too.

It might be helpful to know if there have been any previous successful appeals to the school especially if you are going to have to get over over subscription as well. The key thing is the academic evidence to counter the low 11 + score. I would like to think doing Level 6 SATS would count for something academically but it does seem to vary from appeal to appeal and school to school. Do you have CAT scores too - that could be helpful . You and your family had a lot going on around the exam which must have been difficult and distracting for your ds it sounds like you should a have a reasonable case but the only way you can find out is going through the whole process. Good luck with everything.

Re: Grammar School appeal due to father's serious illness

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 1:18 pm
by Guest55
So sorry to hear what you and your family have been going through.

Do read through the informatons in the Appeals section and I'm sure Etienne, our resident expert, will be along later to help.

Re: Grammar School appeal due to father's serious illness

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 3:20 pm
by Amber
Really sorry to hear about your illness and hope you are on the road to a full recovery.

I don't know much about appeals; but if I were on a panel yours is the kind of case I would look sympathetically on. Good luck.

Re: Grammar School appeal due to father's serious illness

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 3:43 pm
by kenyancowgirl
I echo the sentiments above.

I am not an expert but believe the KEY thing with an appeal is to push the academic evidence first and foremost - you will have to prove that your son is of a high academic level and then the extenuating circumstances (your illness and the effect on him) can only be used as mitigating evidence as to why he did not achieve as expected on the day. Obviously other things will come into play too (like does the school have space etc) and each panel can be a law unto themselves but I know the academic evidence of high level is key. You certainly appear to have evidence to support this and I would hope that a panel would consider your whole case sympathetically.

Re: Grammar School appeal due to father's serious illness

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 5:05 pm
by Etienne
Very willing to try and help, Nervydad - but, so that we are not duplicating advice and support, could I first check that this is not the same case as that raised by 'Soniar' in October?
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 30#p474130" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Grammar School appeal due to father's serious illness

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 7:29 pm
by Nervydad
Hi Etienne, you are correct - it is the same case. Thank you.

Re: Grammar School appeal due to father's serious illness

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:02 pm
by Etienne
Thanks for clarifying.

I'll close this thread to avoid duplication.

The other thread remains open.