Grounds for appeal or not???

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chad
Posts: 1647
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:49 pm
Location: berkshire

Grounds for appeal or not???

Post by chad »

A friend of mine has a child who just missed out on the berks 11 plus (standardised scores - 108, 109, 110 ...giving an average of 109).
This child is already achieving level 5's in Sats papers in Engish, science and Maths and has a july birthday. He is being given extra work in all lessons as he finishes ahead of most others. The problem is that he has some good days in exams and some bad days giving very variable results over the year. This can be shown in the results from his primary school. Would this be grounds to appeal given that the result on the day does not reflect his abilities?
pcn

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Post by pcn »

My son also missed by 2 points and I did think about appealing.(Berks) The head teacher said he would write his reference letter to back it, however, although I know my son is capable, what grounds could be enough? He didn't have a good day due to the disorganisation at Langley and poss nerves, but that wouldn't be enough to overturn the decision. Also some children with pass marks of 115 haven't got places so it really probably wouldn't help my son anyway. What I'm trying to say is think hard before appealing as it can be quite stressful by all accounts..and appeals must be requested by Jan 4th so is there time? Good luck to your friends anyway if they decide to go through with it.
pcn

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Post by pcn »

Further to my last , although my son didn't get the required mark all the hard work he put in for it enabled him to get 5's in his Sat's so it wasn't wasted and we are still proud of his achievments whatever.
Guest

Post by Guest »

Thanks for the reply..... they have registered an appeal and are just going to try and show, through his variable scores in mock Sats (Level 3 one month Level 5 the next) and coursework, that his score on the day was not representational of his ability. They have decided not to tell their son about the appeal so as not to stress him. Like you they are very proud of his achievements and are sure that whatever school he does go to he will do well as he is that kind of child.

Chad
patricia
Posts: 2803
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:07 pm

Post by patricia »

Dear Chad

Your friend should not revolve his case solely around the fact that the child sometimes performs and sometimes not. A friend of mine a few years ago had a similar type child, appeal panel said that this would indicate to them that the child in question would therefore be unable to cope in a grammar school environment as they need to perform all of the time.

I agree that sometimes its a good idea not to tell the child about an appeal, could be a double sense of failure.

Have you read Etiennes advice in the Bucks section?

Best of luck to your friend

patricia
Guest

Post by Guest »

I think they are going to try and show that in class he is able to keep his standards (always being given extensions to the class work) at all times just that he is extremely variable in test situations.... something that he should be able to address given the practice.
I have just copied out Etiennes advice to give to my friend. All help and comments appreciated.
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