11 Plus Exams Forum

hi we have our appeal on 12th june - we are appealing as my daughter got 301 and needed 303 to get a place. the school's argument is not only that she didn't reach the required mark but also there are no more places at the school.

does anyone think we might stand any chance - surely if there are no places then that's it? she only just missed out, we live locally and has good scores for sats etc - level 5's.

at the appeal how do we get round the fact that there aren't any places?!!

many thanks

i'm totally confused and fed up now!!

Dear arc

Have a look at the Q&As, section C.

If the panel accepts that the school is full, and that to admit further children would cause prejudice, it then has to decide whether the parents' reasons for wanting a place outweigh the prejudice to the school.

many thanks i'll have a look.

At my sons appeal, the LA said the school was full to bursting. When the
LA representative said this, we did say that we accepted that this was
the case of the LA. The panel seemed very releived that we did not argue
this.
We put our sons case, and he was accepted.

good luck


God bless

Cindyx

Hi Arc,
Yes, go for it! Even though we were in a similar position and were not successful, I know of others who were. Ther is always a chance. Think positively, and we will all be thinking of you.
Let us know how you get on.
bouga

thanks for the advice! at the weekend we were thinking that it's just not worth bothering to go - but now i think we will give it a shot.
it's on june 12th so i have a little while to sort out what to say - its just that the case for the school seems so negative and final!

i will say that i understand the position that the school is in but that my daughter would benefit etc ? any other tips would be gratefully accepted - have never done this before and i don't know of anyone who has either!

many thanks

The school we appealed for was already at it's PAN. In the school's case they said that they have taken an extra 10 in previous years, as a result of appeals, and that they could cope with that but no more. The panel upheld 17! appeals.

If you could find out whether any appeals have been upheld in previous years and how many children there actually are in each year, this might give you a bit more confidence. I think you should be able to get this information from the admissions authority.

Basically I think you need to primarily focus on academic ability, trying to demonstrate that her performance on the day of the test was a bit of a blip. The strength of your evidence will be important here.

After that, were there any extenuating circumstances that may have caused a lower than expected perfomance in the tests?

This will be your argument with regard to non-qualification. You then need to make a case regarding over-subscription, so what is it about this school that makes it the right school for your daughter. The following were all possible reasons for appealing that were given in the appeal advice notes we received.

religious reasons
family circumstances
medical reasons
transport
family or friends and other links with the school
social reasons
your views on education and behaviour
reasons to do with different subjects and the subjects your child is good at or enjoys
how close you live to the school or how difficult it would be to get to another school
other factors to do with the school

Does the school have specialist status? Is this an area in which your daughter is particularly interested / talented? Try looking at the school website or prospectus - you should be able to see from this the areas in which this school feels it's strengths lie.

Hope this helps and good luck. Do go though, at least you'll know you tried everything even if it doesn't work out.

Just another idea.

I spent a lot of time prior to the hearing deciding exactly what I was going to say and rehearsed it. I made notes in bullet point form on some small cards and used these when making our case - you won't remember everything off the top of your head so this is really helpful.

At the end of the hearing you will be asked to sum up your case - you only really need a few sentences here to remind them of the main points - write these on a separate card as well so you know exactly what you want to say.

Oh, and one final thing, you don't have to present every piece of information you have about your daughter's academic abilities. If you think there is something there that doesn't help your case, just don't mention it (in our case it was some old CAT scores).

Good Luck

Hi

I didn't have to go to appeal in the end, as we were oferred a place at the last minute. However, I did submit my appeal papers and think about my appeal 'speach'.

I would suggest not saying 'the school would benefit my child because....', I would be arguing that THIS SCHOOL IS THE ONLY ONE FOR MY CHILD BECAUSE...........

You are trying to persuade the panel that your childs NEED to go to the school is far GREATER than the schools needs not to accept over their pan.

Not forgetting that you first have to persuade them that your child under performed on the day because................

Best of luck - fingers firmly crossed.
Lottie

thanks so much for your help, tonight i'm going to work out what to say - and will use the bullet points idea!
thanks you have made me feel a bit more positive and ready for the challenge again!!