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Applying for entry this year - child has a disability

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 1:42 pm
by hopefulmumofone
Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum and hope someone has the expertise to help me.

My son is currently in a state school achieving OK results and is now in year 5. End of year 4 results were Maths 5c; English 4B; reading age is apparently age 14.

Unfortunately due to serious ill health the young boy has missed significant amounts of time at school these past two years (By significant I mean >45% of total school time).

The boy due to his disability has been assessed as needing a scribe for all examinations due to severe pain caused by his disability among other joints. The condition is relatively stable at the moment and we are hoping it will remain like this for some time. The boy has not had any sort of professional tutoring apart from completing bond papers and the like with some input from his parents.


My questions are:
Are the year 4 end of year grades good enough for applying to a GS?
I have no idea what his predictions for the end of this school year are and the teacher was unable to give me any indication at parents evening due to the fact the boy had missed so much time at school up to that point due to illness.

Do GS take into consideration mitigation for children who may not have performed as well at school due to serious illness?

What age bond papers should he now be completing - up until now he has being doing 9-10 age papers and getting around 70-80%. Is this sufficient?

Is there anything specific I should be doing with him in order to prepare him for the exams?

Many thanks for your help and assistance in advance.

Hopefulmumofone

Re: Applying for entry this year - child has a disability

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 5:06 pm
by PettswoodFiona
There will be those with better information than I have but my understanding is that they need to attain the level required. Only consideration in some areas is if they are ill on the day and have a doctor's note they may be able to take on another day. Kent is slightly different in that the Head of the primary school gets the results and can refer certain cases where they feel there is a discrepancy between a fail and the child's potential. Hope someone better informed than me can advise more fully. Might be worth posting in the relevant region board as each region has differences. Good luck.

Re: Applying for entry this year - child has a disability

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 5:19 pm
by Sally-Anne
Welcome!
hopefulmumofone wrote: My son is currently in a state school achieving OK results and is now in year 5. End of year 4 results were Maths 5c; English 4B; reading age is apparently age 14.

Are the year 4 end of year grades good enough for applying to a GS? I have no idea what his predictions for the end of this school year are
Yes, they are, and he has done well to achieve those despite missing so much school. He would be expected to make a further two sub-levels of progress each year (on average), so his end of Y6 levels are likely to be 5a for maths (or 6 if the school does the Level 6 tests) and 5a for English. Both are the top of the range.
Do GS take into consideration mitigation for children who may not have performed as well at school due to serious illness?
No, they cannot. However if he doesn't qualify in the 11+, an appeal panel would certainly take that into account.
What age bond papers should he now be completing - up until now he has being doing 9-10 age papers and getting around 70-80%. Is this sufficient?
Those are pretty good scores, but see the next point ...
Is there anything specific I should be doing with him in order to prepare him for the exams?
You need to tell us which area/schools you are interested in because the entrance tests differ widely. We can then help with recommendations for appropriate materials.

Re: Applying for entry this year - child has a disability

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 9:47 pm
by Amber
Does your son have a statement of special educational needs because of his disability?
I'm not sure but I think if he does it maybe affects this question, especially wrt appealing, if it comes to that. Or did I get that wrong? Maybe ask in the SEN section if this is relevant to you.

Re: Applying for entry this year - child has a disability

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 9:57 pm
by hopefulmumofone
Thanks so much for all the helpful replies so far.

The boy does not have a statement as the school would not even consider this as he "so easily" catches up after bouts of missing school (not the point IMO). He does however have a health care plan as he quite often requires opioids at school to manage the pain associated with his illness.

We are living in SW London so generally around this area (sorry I am being so generalised but I have not even looked at any of the schools yet as I am only thinking about applying). The boy is sitting mock sats this week but I have not been told what level.

Any information greatly appreciated

Re: Applying for entry this year - child has a disability

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 10:32 pm
by Peridot
If you are in SW London somewhere you are probably thinking about the Sutton schools and Tiffin. I'd ring the admissions departments and ask them direct. I don't know the Sutton schools personally but the admissions staff at Tiffin have been very helpful in the past. You need to be aware of catchment areas and test content too.

Re: Applying for entry this year - child has a disability

Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 6:55 am
by mystery
Congratulations to your son in doing so well despite his health troubles.

His grades are very good and even more so considering his pain and mobility issues.

The cynic in me says that doing Bond maths and English at home with you part of the time is more than enough to get the high grades at school.

I do hope you get the information you need to help you through the 11 plus hurdle.

I guess you are considering the longer game too. For your son to get the high grades he is capable of at gcse and a level if the health problems continue, you need a flexible school, not one that sees school attendance alone as the key to success. For example, there could be days when you know he will gain more educationally from time studying at home. The last thing you need is a school which will not authorise this so you have education welfare breathing down your neck to add to your stresses.

Re: Applying for entry this year - child has a disability

Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 8:49 pm
by hopefulmumofone
Thanks so much to everyone for the sound advice. I plan on telephoning Tiffin this week to have a conversation with them about how they would be able to manage his disability and more importantly the fact how they would manage him academically if the need for extended periods of time off school were required. Im guessing it is quite uncommon for children to be on opioids in school - which generally affect my sons ability to concentrate and learn much. I am disappointed with current primary school as they completely lacked all support academically for my child during all of the time he missed off school. At one stage they wanted to give his place to another pupil on the waiting school - I was furious as one can imagine!

Im planning on upping my level of supporting and teaching him at home in the coming months - would one hour per evening be excessive?


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