For those who were not succesful

[anotherworriedmum]

Our son didn't pass and is absolutely devastated. We were really surprised because he's consistently been top in all his mock tests, has a reading age that is off the scale, is top in maths and literacy and is even in the school's "gifted maths club". We feel he just blew it on the day, he did say he'd finished a lot earlier than the others so either he was overconfident or he missed out a paper (I told him "always look on both sides of the paper"!).

So anyway, I'm waiting until we get his test scores to decide whether to appeal or not. Am I right in thinking that the process for appeal is - 1. apply for a grammar school place, 2. automatically get turned down, 3. appeal after March 2012 when he's offered a secondary school place?

Hi Sounds like my son that is what he did last year too

You are right about the appeal process, its a very long and frustrating time as other than collect your evidence you cant do anything officially until after 1st March 2013. Good luck!

[MasterChief]

Our daughter is devastated but given her Maths score there seems little point in appealing. Her HT was very supportive when we went to collect her scores and will write in support of trying to get into our prefered non selective. I was wondering about looking at the test papers but I'm unsure how much it might help or how to go about it. Any thoughts?

[U400JB9]

DD bombed all three papers....so long and painful appeals preocess here we come.....again....

HT is REALLY suportive, even pushing us to appeal as she says we must.

Can`t wait

[crashtestdummy]

Our 10-year-old son passed the Bexley 11 plus but failed the Kent 11 plus even though his aggregate score in the Kent test was over the minimum pass mark. It appears that the non verbal part of the exam was the culprit as he did well on the other two papers. It seems a very harsh test for this reason although it is a shame that overall performance is not taken into account. Congratulations to those who passed though.

[Code Red]

I rang the school to get his scores, he passed comfortably on his maths, missed his VR by 1 point and his NVR by 15. The receptionist told me that the HT had already appealed, she wants us to come in and see her on Monday so it looks like the school will be behind us if we do decide to appeal.

To be honest, I always told our son that I didn't mind whether he went to a grammar or not, but the choice of decent quality comprehensives is pretty poor in our area - there's basically two decent schools, but one won't take you in unless you're a regular church goer and the church is also a member of the "Council of The Churches Together in England and Wales” so that's us out . The rest are either too far away or have poor OFSTED ratings, and one is so bad we'd rather home teach than send him there!!!

I agree it's a very harsh test and unlike GCSEs etc where you can resit them, there's no "second chance" and really this will have far more impact on our child's education in the long run. A child can do well throughout the year but blow it on the day - it would be far better if it was based on their general academic performance, IQ based tests are pretty subjective.

[U400JB9]

To be honest, I always told our son that I didn't mind whether he went to a grammar or not, but the choice of decent quality comprehensives is pretty poor in our area - there's basically two decent schools, but one won't take you in unless you're a regular church goer and the church is also a member of the "Council of The Churches Together in England and Wales” so that's us out . The rest are either too far away or have poor OFSTED ratings, and one is so bad we'd rather home teach than send him there!!!

Do you live in Canterbury too?? Sounds like my post, apart from I have a daughter

[Code Red]

To be honest, I always told our son that I didn't mind whether he went to a grammar or not, but the choice of decent quality comprehensives is pretty poor in our area - there's basically two decent schools, but one won't take you in unless you're a regular church goer and the church is also a member of the "Council of The Churches Together in England and Wales” so that's us out . The rest are either too far away or have poor OFSTED ratings, and one is so bad we'd rather home teach than send him there!!!

Do you live in Canterbury too?? Sounds like my post, apart from I have a daughter

Close - Thanet.

[Redrobyn]

Pheasantchick I'd like to belatedly add my thanks for all the help you have given to the forum and say sorry for the news (To anyone else really). We try to do the best and it hurts at times but we cant show the full feeling. The best we can do is show the feeling of dusting ourselves off, rolling our sleeves up, and getting on with it with added determintaion. Not give false hope but show a bit of grit.
You may be knocked down but not knocked out. Its the best lesson the kids can learn, not VR and NVR!
Yes it may mean it hurts all the more if not ultimately succesful but you can look in the mirror each morning with a clear conscience.
Best Wishes.