11+ appeal
Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators
Thank you everyone.
Something that might be helpful to others - I prepared a speech which was 3 pages long and I timed it at about 8 minutes. As suggested by someone else and Sally-Anne/Etienne, I gave the clerk (who is a barrister) a copy and left copies for the panel when I left the room. I did actually learn the speech so didn't need to read it, just held it for reassurance.
The LEA guy said to me outside that the prepared speech was a very good thing to do as so many parents 'just waffled their way through and didn't really make their point'
It was worth it for me. I certainly came away feeling that I hadn't forgotten to say anything. I even made myself some notes about answers to questions that I felt sure they'd ask me (which they did)
Something that might be helpful to others - I prepared a speech which was 3 pages long and I timed it at about 8 minutes. As suggested by someone else and Sally-Anne/Etienne, I gave the clerk (who is a barrister) a copy and left copies for the panel when I left the room. I did actually learn the speech so didn't need to read it, just held it for reassurance.
The LEA guy said to me outside that the prepared speech was a very good thing to do as so many parents 'just waffled their way through and didn't really make their point'
It was worth it for me. I certainly came away feeling that I hadn't forgotten to say anything. I even made myself some notes about answers to questions that I felt sure they'd ask me (which they did)
KCC
-
panickingmum
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:12 pm
- Location: Bucks
Congratulations
Hi parent11,
Well done! Obviously your preparation was everything and you got everything across.
PM
Well done! Obviously your preparation was everything and you got everything across.
PM
Gosh. Well done!parent11 wrote:I did actually learn the speech so didn't need to read it,
Regarding the LEA chaps comment, I'm not quite so sure that a set speech is necessary (although it certainly worked for you). However, a list of salient points that you need to get over is very useful (and of course that's what you will have used in your speech) - just so you remember to make those points (and use it also to sum up).
Capers
-
totpotpink
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2008 9:20 pm
Hi totpotpink
With regard to the occular motor control, they asked me whether that affects him in school if say, he's looking at a list of questions and then writing the answers on a separate sheet. I said that I didn't think he'd ever had any problems in other situations as he would use a ruler to keep his place and that an 11+ paper is not quite the same where they are very quickly looking from one paper to the other at those tiny little boxes of numbers, letters or words.
They asked why we had not considered an adjusted paper and I said that I was not really aware of the problem affecting him in normal situations so it had never been an issue. I said that it did affect his reading speed as he often skipped words or lines and had to re read a sentence sometimes. But he does read, and that's what they want to know I think.
Hope that helps.
With regard to the occular motor control, they asked me whether that affects him in school if say, he's looking at a list of questions and then writing the answers on a separate sheet. I said that I didn't think he'd ever had any problems in other situations as he would use a ruler to keep his place and that an 11+ paper is not quite the same where they are very quickly looking from one paper to the other at those tiny little boxes of numbers, letters or words.
They asked why we had not considered an adjusted paper and I said that I was not really aware of the problem affecting him in normal situations so it had never been an issue. I said that it did affect his reading speed as he often skipped words or lines and had to re read a sentence sometimes. But he does read, and that's what they want to know I think.
Hope that helps.
KCC
Hi Phil
Most of my questions were very related to my son's situation - his poor occular motor control, his autistic spectrum condition and how that affects him on a day to day basis.
There weren't really many general questions apart from the one about the CATs scores that I've already mentioned.
They did talk about his reading age being rather lower than preferred for grammar school (Chron age 10.7, reading age 11.0) They said they like to see 18m - 24m above their chron age. I asked the LEA guy how they tested reading age (our school's test is the Suffolk Reading Assessment) but he didn't know. One of the panel members then said 'We know he reads a lot, we can see that, maybe he got a low score because his reading is mainly non-fiction which may mean he doesn't have the same sort of vocab as a fiction reader' They all agreed that that must be the case and I said no more on the matter!
Other people I know have been asked
'Would your child remain motivated at an upper school?'
'Which questions didn't they like?'
'Did they finish?'
and something that two people have said was that they were really pushed as to 'whether they could think of anything else at all that might have affected their child on the day.?' 'Are you really sure, really, really sure? Both of these parents were feeling that they were being tested to see if they made something up on the spur of the moment. (Which neither of them did)
Hope that is of some use to you.
Most of my questions were very related to my son's situation - his poor occular motor control, his autistic spectrum condition and how that affects him on a day to day basis.
There weren't really many general questions apart from the one about the CATs scores that I've already mentioned.
They did talk about his reading age being rather lower than preferred for grammar school (Chron age 10.7, reading age 11.0) They said they like to see 18m - 24m above their chron age. I asked the LEA guy how they tested reading age (our school's test is the Suffolk Reading Assessment) but he didn't know. One of the panel members then said 'We know he reads a lot, we can see that, maybe he got a low score because his reading is mainly non-fiction which may mean he doesn't have the same sort of vocab as a fiction reader' They all agreed that that must be the case and I said no more on the matter!
Other people I know have been asked
'Would your child remain motivated at an upper school?'
'Which questions didn't they like?'
'Did they finish?'
and something that two people have said was that they were really pushed as to 'whether they could think of anything else at all that might have affected their child on the day.?' 'Are you really sure, really, really sure? Both of these parents were feeling that they were being tested to see if they made something up on the spur of the moment. (Which neither of them did)
Hope that is of some use to you.
KCC
-
totpotpink
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2008 9:20 pm
Thanks for taking the time to reply re the ocular motility - it was first mentioned to us in reception class but as our DD was already wearing glasses, I assumed any abnormality would have been picked up at testing - like your son, DD often skips words when reading, etc, but it's only post 11 plus that we have had it professionally assessed - we have a report to back us up - hope it's enough - fingers crossed
