Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

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KT36
Posts: 98
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:00 am

Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

Post by KT36 »

My DS had shock result of 113 & 114 in his bucks 11+. We say shock as he goes to high performing junior school (50% went to grammar last year) and he his in top 20% of his year).

Head teacher has said his result was biggest shock to school and we should appeal which school will support 100% as they feel he should be at GS (we have meeting with head next week to prepare).

Academically he's always performed well, he is already at 3 5B's in SATs, with expected 3 5A's for end year 6 and his teacher has said that he is already starting to work on level 6 work (along with few others in class). I dont have CAT score from year 5 but in year 4 he had 129 and 131 (which i think is v good??).  His school work is always v v gd and we have gd examples of project work/ homework and classwork which supports he's GS potential. He's been selected by school to undergo French language trial programme where he attends special lessons as he was seen as having an aptitude for languages (he then went on to be 1 of 4 kids to represent school at a MFL day @ GS), he was 1 of 10 selected to represent school at maths competition at GS. He's always excelled. 

What went wrong with 11+... we don't know! My husband and I are totally blaming ourselves, we coached towards end but not knowing many other parents (both work full-time) and not coming from the area we didn't fully appreciate the whole coaching thing and we feel we let him down badly. We changed his routine in the month before (stopping all extra curricula activity, he usually did 3 activities a week and still did his school work) which totally stressed him... that's the only change?? 

Help.... (and I so wish I'd found this website before)... everyone on here says you need to have circumstances why DS didn't perform on test, we didn't have any major upheaval etc.. my DS just bottled the exam which is so unlike him as in school normally he thrives in competition and exams and always wants to do well. 

DS is gutted... hardly slept all weekend and we have a very tearful house. 

Writing this has helped as I've been too upset to talk about it. Can anyone suggest arguments or anything to help... we know even with HT support an appeal at 114 is going to be very tough. 
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Re: Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

Post by Etienne »

Sorry to hear your news, KT36.

Before going any further, we need to know more about those CAT scores. There should be three results (Verbal, Quantitative and Non Verbal) and then the overall result. Please check and come back to us.
Etienne
logic32
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:05 pm

Re: Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

Post by logic32 »

Hi, I'm sorry I can't really offer anything constructive towards your appeal just sympathy for your situation. I'm sure someone will be along soon to give you some good advice. You obviously have a bright boy and it's definately worth appealing, though if you look through the appeals info on the forum the success percentages do go down with score.

At one grammar school we visited the headmaster said something which really resonated with me. He said the eleven plus was something which tested one part of your brain on one day. If you get 141 it doesn't mean you're a genius and if you get 115 it doesn't mean you aren't clever. So I hope your son doesn't feel this is the end of the world.

Best of luck, Logic.
KT36
Posts: 98
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:00 am

Re: Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

Post by KT36 »

Hi E
I was typing from memory, just looked at actual scores from year 4 (will ask for year 5 when we see HT).
Quantitative 127
Non-verbal 130
Verbal 114

Obviously verbal reasoning not his strongest. All help very much appreciated.

KT36
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Re: Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

Post by Etienne »

Let's see whether the year 5 CATs are similar, but at the moment it looks as if you may have an explanation for the 11+ result - your son's strengths lie in areas other than VR. This could be an acceptable argument, provided the evidence is really strong and wide-ranging.

You need to focus on putting together all the evidence you can to demonstrate high ability.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/11plus ... rs.php#b11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Etienne
KT36
Posts: 98
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:00 am

Re: Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

Post by KT36 »

Thanks Etienne. I'll let you know.

KT36
emsy
Posts: 111
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:10 pm
Location: Trafford

Re: Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

Post by emsy »

I am in a different area (Trafford) but I had a successful non-qualification appeal 2 years ago - like your DS my DD was doing very well in school and was expected to pass comfortably and we had no extenuating circumstances. I got a very supportive letter from the school giving her high Year 5 SATS results and VR, NVR and maths scores (the school did these at the end of every year). The letter included details of her performance in school (top set, doing Year 7 maths, details of her level of work in maths and literacy etc) and stated that they thought she was "more than capable" of passing and "strongly recommended" for grammar school. I appealed on the grounds that her result wasn't consistent with her performance at school using the letter as evidence. I hope this gives you some ideas - I will send more information about our appeal by PM if you want. The appeal advice on this forum is great - I wouldn't have known where to start without it.
KT36
Posts: 98
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:00 am

Re: Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

Post by KT36 »

Hi Emsy

So glad all worked out great for your DD, it's great to hear positive news and I hope she's thriving in her new school.

If you could let me have as much detail as you mind sharing that would be lovely thanks. We have 2 weeks to get appeal in. My DS year 5 teacher and also year 3 teacher have said they'd give supporting letters to go with the HT letter (not sure if this helps but will try anything?!). Not managed to speak to his current teacher and his year 4 teacher has left school. Had trouble getting DS to bed this evening as he doesn't want to go to school in the morning and see his 2 best friends who both passed (the 3 boys are inseparable normally).

KT36
emsy
Posts: 111
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:10 pm
Location: Trafford

Re: Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

Post by emsy »

I have sent you a PM. I hope your DS is OK this morning - it's so hard for them when friends have passed. Good luck with your appeal.
KT36
Posts: 98
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:00 am

Re: Bucks appeal at 114! Help...

Post by KT36 »

Thanks Emsy, that's really helpful. DS went to school this morning but was very upset thinking the teacher would rearrange class tables based on 11+ results, which of course they won't, but that's a 10 year olds logic!
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