We got DS’s results yesterday and while he passed the aggregate score he was 7 points out on English. He is heartbroken as he had his heart set on WGSB (and would be guaranteed a place as his sister goes to WGSG) and we would like to appeal this based on the fact that their class had no teacher from March to July this year due to teacher sickness. Most days were spent doing PE and his class have the lowest pass rate for 11+ in recent years.

My question is, is it too much to appeal on a 7 point miss? Would we have a good enough case based on the lack of teaching to move forward with an appeal? Are we just building his hopes up to be knocked back down again? Any advice welcome. Thanks

You can appeal but not until March - you would have to put the school on the CAF and then be declined a place. You would have to prove academic ability - the problem with things like not having a class teacher for a period of time is that it affects a potentially large number of people

That's really tough, sorry for your son. There's a special appeals forum on here so try posting there for advice?

I haven't posted on here before, but have just read your message. You can absolutely appeal, and have as good a chance as anyone. I know this because I successfully appealed for my son 2 years ago, when he missed the pass mark on Maths by 14 points! We too thought something must have gone wrong with the marking as all of his practice papers pointed towards a comfortable pass.

You are not appealing the result of the Kent Test. Instead, you are appealing for a place at a Grammar School, and need to present academic evidence to support that. The Kent Test scores are therefore irrelevant to a degree. You will need to demonstrate why your child is good enough, and the best way (and only way really) is to have strong academic evidence. Our son's school used CAT test scores that were taken a month or two before the appeal as evidence, where he scored highly.

The worst part of the whole process is how long it takes. It's a long wait, and you need to put it to the back of your mind as quickly as possible. Good luck!

Thanks. We have spoken to him and he wants us to appeal so we’ve said we are going to. We think he deserves his place otherwise we wouldn’t go through with it. Academically he does really well and I do think his school have let him and his classmates down. We even went in to see them in year five about it and they said they were focused on the year six sats so all resources were sent there and year five weren’t prioritised.

We plan to put WGSB first on our CAF and work towards appealing after March. His books show amazing work, better in my opinion than his sister at that age who is at grammar school. The other parents aren’t planning to appeal for various reason.

KentDad2 : your post gives me hope.
Can you let me know how do we put up an appeal? Whats the procedure?
Also within how much time did you get a reply from the council?

Kentdad2, wow your post give me hope now! I have already emailed Kent to ask for a remark as I’m sure there was something wrong. I plan to spend the next few months building up my evidence. Like you we were hoping for a comfortable pass, his non verbal score was amazing.

We don’t have CAT scores at his school but am sure with the amount of test he has done and that they need to do in year six this will build up significant evidence to the school.

Thanks so much for you post, you’ve put a smile on a sad mummy’s face.....

I’d check but I’m pretty sure both Wilmington and Dartford boys haven’t let in any boys on appeal in the last 4 years that haven’t passed

They only take children OOC who have passed

And there are usually 100+ appeals heard

Best place to start is the appeals section here: viewforum.php?f=35 - as it says do the reading first before posting questions, it is mine of information.

First stop is the head teacher of your child's primary school. They will talk you through the process. From memory, you can't appeal until you get your offer of school places in March. Once you get that, you have a couple of months to build your case. You'll eventually be given an appeal date (unfortunately won't be until around June or July), and you then have to convince the panel. We put together a good letter and also had great support from our primary head teacher. I think that support of the head teacher is vital.

The whole process is soul destroying and long, but the time does go quick, and for us the outcome was great. Only other advice I can give is to mentally prepare for the worst. Tell your child they are going to the school you apply for, and that the appeal is an outside chance. You will then not set false expectations. Good luck!