Q&As - letter of appeal - some suggestions

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Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Q&As - letter of appeal - some suggestions

Post by Etienne »

Looking ahead to the 11+ appeals season, the latest version of the Q&As (Appeal Questions and Answers) is available at:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/11plus ... nswers.php
The main change is in Section B where there is now some simple advice on writing a letter for an 11+ appeal. Just my suggestions - feel free to ignore! :lol:

I firmly believe that the quality of the written submission makes no real difference to the outcome of an appeal. Why should those who are unfamiliar with the system, have poor literacy skills or limited English, be disadvantaged and denied a fair hearing? Panels are meant to have an “enabling role" when it comes to the actual hearing, and my experience was that they are rather good at teasing out all the information they need!

Together with other regular contributors I am happy to try and help with general questions in this Appeals section wherever possible. Without meaning to be too prescriptive, please help us by:
* Giving yourself a nickname (you don’t have to register unless you want to). The reason is that in a long thread it can get confusing when trying to respond to numerous “Guests”!
* Reading the Q&As to see whether your question has already been answered:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/11plus ... nswers.php
* Reading previous threads in “Appeals” to see what has already been discussed. (Meaningful subject titles can help here - see below.)
* Giving as many relevant details as possible (including an informative title for the thread, e.g. “Timing of appeals in X local authority”, “Deadline for submitting appeals in X County”)

While I cannot speak for other contributors, please be aware that, if I respond to private messages, there is no entitlement to a private service and I may use any points discussed, suitably anonymised of course, to assist as many other parents as possible in the Q&As.

Finally! Although this forum provides a valuable opportunity for parents to share experiences, beware of generalising from the particular. Few parents who are successful at appeal really know why. It may be that the panel decided to give particular weight to something that hadn’t even occurred to the appellants. On the other hand, if everyone says “We wore a copper bracelet to our appeal and it worked,” it’s probably worth a try! :lol:
Etienne
Lulu

appeals process

Post by Lulu »

God bless you! I'm going straight to the website you recommended. You may be hearing from me.

Thanks
Doobie

Post by Doobie »

Hi Etienne

Wonder if you could help - will be appealing for my son on advice from his school, having trouble working out exactly how he done as the standardisation is very confusing...or is it just me!!!

He scored as follows 113 VR - got to question 86 and 100 on NVR and completed the paper...he was 10 years and 8 months at the time of taking the exam.

Just want to go into this appeal with as much info as I can.

Thank you
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Post by Etienne »

Dear Doobie

You don't have to worry about this. The appeal panel will already have your son's results and will know what they mean.

I don't think you need to present and explain the academic evidence, just make sure that the school does. Ask the school if they will give you their letter of support, or if they will send it direct to the appeal panel. (You will get to see it either way.) Ask them to provide as much evidence of high ability as possible. If they can provide not just the marks scored in their alternative reasoning tests, but also the percentiles, that could help. If they can be as specific as possible with their SATs predictions (e.g. 5a or 5b rather than just level 5), so much the better. If they will put in writing how "very strongly indeed" they support your son, that would be very useful for your case.

Similarly with the extenuating circumstances, you don't have to be an expert on, for example, your son's medical history (although you probably are by now!), just make sure you get as much evidence as possible in from the professionals, and draw the panel's attention to it.

Regards
Etienne
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