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Appealing for Kent

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 4:38 pm
by Shiv
Hi
I was last on here when appealing for my daughter and find myself here again for my son! :0)
Got the results. Passed the Reasoning. 1 marks short of passing the English. and 12 marks short in Maths.
As with my daughter, the Maths result is the main issue. My daughter in fact passed the appeal and has been placed in higher ability groups for maths within the grammar school than some of her friends who did pass.

My sons aggregate score though, is 306. 320 is the required score, so he is 14 short. Im 'hopeful' of a successful appeal but i realise there will be children much closer to the mark in their test paper and with healthy aggregate scores as well. Unfortunately we have a low aggregate and a low Maths so i guess i can only give it a go.

This year Kent will not allow parents to view their children answer sheets or written paper which is a shame as they allowed me to do that for my daughter and i found some useful information to use at appeal. I thought 'Freedom of Information' meant we could see our own childs answer sheets but not the actual test papers.

Has anyone else tried to get this information? Does anyone know of a child with as much as 12 marks short in a paper succeed in an appeal? Ive also asked them to give me a breakdown of the actual scores for the different sections in the Reasoning Test, for e.g.: NVR, SPATIAL and VR as the NVR in particular would be useful to know regarding his Maths result. I have a feeling that Kent Admissions are forwarding the information to schools on 16th (tomorrow) but i may have misunderstood their email. Anyone else managed to get this information from school or from the authority? Appreciate any information.

Re: Appealing for Kent

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:04 pm
by ilesoleil
I am sorry to hear about the results but as you know appealing is worth trying as long as you have grounds !

I believe KCC stopped allowing parents to view the tests for the past year or 2. I was told there had been too many abuse whatever the abuse was! Last year I managed to get a breakdown for the English paper as it was the paper my DD failed. Admission did it over the phone and they very helpful answering every question I had for them. I remember the lady even called me back to give me more information.
I don't know anyone who failed math by 12 marks but every appeal has its chance!
Hope it helps.
All the best

Re: Appealing for Kent

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:19 pm
by vic1389
I know where you are coming from my daughter did quite well on her score she got 327 but what has let her down is 101 on the maths this is my first time appealing not sure where to start yet. I have booked an appointment with the head but worried as she is quite new and doesn't really know my daughter can the heads appeal for you after you have got the results or does this happen before.

Re: Appealing for Kent

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:31 pm
by twinkles
If you don't mind saying which school(s) will you be appealing for you may get someone with experience of these schools come along. You may well have to appeal for non-quali and over subscription too.

Re: Appealing for Kent

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 6:48 pm
by ilesoleil
First thing to find out with the head apart from the detailed scores is if she/he appealed on behalf of your child ...

Re: Appealing for Kent

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 7:00 pm
by twinkles
The Headteacher appeals are done before you get the results. So, yes, find out if they appealed for you and if so the reason it was turned down at headteacher appeal.

Re: Appealing for Kent

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 9:23 pm
by Jannaj
Shiv wrote:Hi
I was last on here when appealing for my daughter and find myself here again for my son! :0)
Got the results. Passed the Reasoning. 1 marks short of passing the English. and 12 marks short in Maths.
As with my daughter, the Maths result is the main issue. My daughter in fact passed the appeal and has been placed in higher ability groups for maths within the grammar school than some of her friends who did pass.

My sons aggregate score though, is 306. 320 is the required score, so he is 14 short. Im 'hopeful' of a successful appeal but i realise there will be children much closer to the mark in their test paper and with healthy aggregate scores as well. Unfortunately we have a low aggregate and a low Maths so i guess i can only give it a go.

I have been trying to find a nice way to put this, but I haven't been able to. Apologies if this sounds blunt.

By my reckoning your son got 107, 105 and 94. Unless there are circumstances which contributed to underperformance on the day, if I were in your shoes I would accept that at this point in time his path does not lead toward a grammar school. I would find the best high schools for his interests and aptitude and put all my energies into getting him there.

Re: Appealing for Kent

Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 5:38 am
by Shiv
Hello once again

Thank you for your replies. You are correct regarding my sons scores. He passed one paper, failed another by just one mark and Maths, the main culprit by 12 marks as said above.

However, as his teacher has said, he is just at the start of year 6 and by the end of year 6 he could have progressed in Maths to the level required for grammar. It is just 12 marks between him and someone who did pass, so perfectly achievable. We won't lose our first choice of non grammar school so we have nothing to lose. Children do tend to mature and improve with age and in boys I believe this is well recognised. So he can only get better. If he was say 20 marks away from passing and had poor results in his other papers, I'd agree with you that clearly it would be better to put all efforts into finding the best non selective school. As this is not the case, and since we have already found the best non selective school, which we won't lose as a result from appealing, I'd have to disagree with you about whether or not I should try.

I haven't seen the Head yet as she's not currently in school but a meeting with the Deputy Head who is also his teacher is positive about his ability and happy to support the appeal. If I believed my son would struggle in a grammar I wouldn't be considering an appeal and if he'd done badly in more than just one subject I'd be giving it more thought but since that's not the case, I'm comfortable with my decision to appeal.

My main concern was whether or not anyone knew of a child winning an appeal with 12 marks short in one subject? Just to give me an idea if it's achievable. Also, still curious to know if anyone has had a breakdown of marks from their primary this year for the Reasoning.

My son wasn't put forward for a Head teachers appeal. We are not aiming for a 'super selective' either. Just a regular East Kent Grammar school.

Re: Appealing for Kent

Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:22 am
by susanass
Shiv wrote:Hello once again

Thank you for your replies. You are correct regarding my sons scores. He passed one paper, failed another by just one mark and Maths, the main culprit by 12 marks as said above.

However, as his teacher has said, he is just at the start of year 6 and by the end of year 6 he could have progressed in Maths to the level required for grammar. It is just 12 marks between him and someone who did pass, so perfectly achievable. We won't lose our first choice of non grammar school so we have nothing to lose. Children do tend to mature and improve with age and in boys I believe this is well recognised. So he can only get better. If he was say 20 marks away from passing and had poor results in his other papers, I'd agree with you that clearly it would be better to put all efforts into finding the best non selective school. As this is not the case, and since we have already found the best non selective school, which we won't lose as a result from appealing, I'd have to disagree with you about whether or not I should try.

I haven't seen the Head yet as she's not currently in school but a meeting with the Deputy Head who is also his teacher is positive about his ability and happy to support the appeal. If I believed my son would struggle in a grammar I wouldn't be considering an appeal and if he'd done badly in more than just one subject I'd be giving it more thought but since that's not the case, I'm comfortable with my decision to appeal.

My main concern was whether or not anyone knew of a child winning an appeal with 12 marks short in one subject? Just to give me an idea if it's achievable. Also, still curious to know if anyone has had a breakdown of marks from their primary this year for the Reasoning.

My son wasn't put forward for a Head teachers appeal. We are not aiming for a 'super selective' either. Just a regular East Kent Grammar school.

Hi Shiv, I'd just ignore Jannaj's comment to be honest. You know your dc and it is very easy for someone to come on here who's dc has passed to tell you not to try to do the best for your dc yourself. You do stand a chance the same as anyone else who goes in for an appeal. And if you don't try, you don't know! Just make sure your dc works just as hard this year so you can prove he or she is just as worthy as someone who "got lucky" on the day. I know of plenty of kids who just scrapped a pass, so you aren't far off them, and any child can have a bad day with the HUGE pressure they were under. Good luck and as long as you have a good plan B in a local high school try not to stress too much about it in the meantime.

Re: Appealing for Kent

Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:48 am
by ilesoleil
Hi again. A child failed by 9 points in english and won the appeal. strong evidence as to why it happened were presented but it shows it's possible and you might regret not to try present the best appeal you can later on if you don't go for it.
all the best