Review results 2015 - general discussion

[Booklady]

I've got to send a scan of ours to the head at school later - so I'll send that to you too.

Received with thanks. Very helpful to have the accompanying notes as well.

Any thoughts - gratefully received!!!

[Waterloolilly]

We have not been successful, however I feel there are some major discrepancies in the results. Our child got 108 but we appealed on exceptional circumstances. I had cancer and was in undergoing my treatment from Jan 2014 to June. I spent 6 weeks in hospital the family had to be split up whilst I was away yet I do not feel this has been taken into consideration. Our child's end of year 5 scores were 5b for maths and reading and 4a for writing. They have put that the academic evidence does not demonstrate suitability for grammar school but also ticked that evidence clearly shows she will leave with 3level 5s. The head teacher also incorrectly put that she was a level5c in maths when her report clearly says 5b. Do you think we have grounds go appeal against the decision?? Can anyone advise. Thanks

[MamaBear]

Oh I'm really sorry to hear of your illness, did the Clerk write on the form whether they took it in to consideration?

Speak to the headteacher (that is so annoying that they wrote the wrong level) and try to get your child's yr6 teacher to write a letter of support.

I'm sure someone else will come along with the right advice for you, good luck!

[Booklady]

Oh I'm really sorry to hear of your illness, did the Clerk write on the form whether they took it in to consideration?

Speak to the headteacher (that is so annoying that they wrote the wrong level) and try to get your child's yr6 teacher to write a letter of support.

I'm sure someone else will come along with the right advice for you, good luck!

Did the head put in the letter about your illness? We had stated that our daughter was very nervous and this was confirmed by the head. They put a note of that on the sheet.
It could be they felt as it was Jan-June that it was over by Sept - given they do not believe any pre preparation work is needed.
Hope you are better now!
We are a little team here appealing!!

[Waterloolilly]

Thanks for the support, I am fine now. Although my treatment was over by June I was still having regular hsopital visits, with my daughter asking everytime whether I was coming home and who was picking her up from school. I had one due the week after the 11+, so she would have been anxious. Although they acknowledged the illness, our headteacher was very supportive, they wrote they they did not think it affected her end result. I would beg to differ. She did not pick up a book to read for the whole of year 5, she hasn't stopped reading in year 6 !

[heartmum]

Waterloolilly so sorry to hear of your illness but glad to see you are better now, after all you have been through this is not what you really need right now X x x

The whole issue of whether your DDs performance was affected by the test I would say is based on the fact that due to an unsettled Y5 she may not have been working at the levels at end Y5/beginning Y6 that she may have been without those issues. Bucks CC are keen to state (in the official presentation we had at school) that this is a curriculum based test, therefore no preparation needed, however if curriculum based and the child had an unsettled Y5 they may have missed important areas of their work, their working levels may have suffered; resulting in the child not being at the levels they could have been at the beginning of Y6/11+ ... therefore the extenuating circumstances from Y5 could have affected her level of performance on the test.

[Dollydripmat]

Sorry to hear of your illness and glad you are better now. I think it goes hand in hand that a child in Y5 whose Mum has a life threatening illness is going to be fundamentally affected. The underlying stress a child must be going through at a time like that is unimaginable to say the least. The 11+ alone can cause a child huge stress let alone what your child had to deal with. I would definitely soldier on to the appeal . I'm not sure how or what you do to prove FCO, maybe Etienne or SA might be able to guide you with that. Dollyxxx

[Etienne]

Welcome to the forum, Waterloolilly. As you can see from the above, you'll meet some very friendly and supportive members on here!

Specific questions about your own case need to be asked on the Appeals forum, so I'll start a thread for you there and copy your first post across.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 35&t=41149" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Etienne]

I've got to send a scan of ours to the head at school later - so I'll send that to you too.

Received with thanks. Very helpful to have the accompanying notes as well.

Any thoughts - gratefully received!!!

Thanks to everyone who responded. No need for any more copies now!

We suspect most will be arguing that it is not clear how the panel arrived at their decision about academic suitability. There's a lack of transparency - without clear, objective criteria for the decision making, how can anyone actually tell whether the process was 'fair, consistent & objective'?
Remember - it is for the admission authority to come up with the evidence that the process really was 'fair, consistent & objective', and the only evidence they have is the clerk's record.

In addition, some members have spotted tick boxes left unticked, inaccuracies in the notes, and contradictions. Any such errors could well cast doubt on the process.

We suggest the best thing to do now is to focus on the advice given in Section D of the 'How to appeal' thread:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 12&t=36418" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;