Piya Slough Appeal

[Piya]

Burnham is 5.6 miles driving distance, 3.6 miles as the crow flies so I will certainly be putting that down on the CAF - should i put this first if i'm more likely to get this school compared to the others?

[Tinkers]

Put the schools in your genuine order of preference.

[scary mum]

If you child doesn't qualify for the others & qualifies for Burnham they will get that. Put them in your genuine order of preference. Burnham is a good school & a good option for you if it is fairly local.

[ToadMum]

https://www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/edu ... ool-places

I think this may help?

[Piya]

Hello all,

As expected, we did not get any of our preferred choices, obviously two we had no chance as she missed the marks so I was expecting to appeal for the Slough schools but we also did not get any Bucks schools either and nor did we get the Slough back up. So I am gearing up for multiple appeals. I've no idea how the appeals will all be co-ordinated when the schools are across two different areas?

The Slough appeal does not specify what sort of evidence it wants. I have all her school reports and her class teacher is happy to write something for her but should I get a letter of support from the headteacher or class teacher? Do I also submit any schoolwork. The appeal notes state we cannot bring anything new to the appeal hearing so have to have everything submitted by the deadline date.

Thanks in advance for any response to my questions.

[mad?]

Sorry to hear your news.

Firstly accept the school you were allocated (presumably you listed one you were guaranteed to get?) otherwise you risk not having a school at all. Then start by reading our appeals guidance here that is a good place to start.

Good luck.

[Etienne]

I've no idea how the appeals will all be co-ordinated when the schools are across two different areas?

They aren't co-ordinated. I'm afraid you'll have to wait and see if there's a clash.

should I get a letter of support from the headteacher or class teacher?

Either or both.

Do I also submit any schoolwork.

It's not needed.

Please follow the link mad? has given you. There is a lot of reading to do!

Good luck.

[Piya]

hello,

please could I get some advice. I have now gone through 3 appeals, 2 unsuccessful and one I'm still waiting for the outcome. I still have 2 to go.

Having read through thoroughly all the detailed advice on this forum I put together a comprehensive case for each. My child's academic evidence is strong, yet, at the appeal which was for non-qualification, they asked me nothing about her academics, just acknowledged that she is a high performer and spent a whole hour grilling me on extentuating circumstances. I have received a simple "no" outcome and need to wait another few weeks for the detailed response. From what I have read on this forum, the focus on non-qualification should be on academics and not extenuating circumstances or have I misunderstood? We did have extenuating circumstances but I felt the chair tried hard to downplay them. When citing reasons for wanting a place (having carefully read through valid reasons on this forum and putting relevant ones forward specific to our case) the chair pretty much for most of them stated they can't really take that into account(!). When i remarked that it is not simply that one reason in isolation but rather the cumulative effect of all of them he decided to reassure me that because my child is bright she will be successful wherever she goes. I cannot help that the chair, although friendly, had a biased outlook, even mentioning how his own children did not attend a grammar and did great in life!

The second appeal, non-grammar, local secondary, was also intense - they focussed more on the reasons for wanting a place but again it's a no.

The third, over-subscription, were pleasant and it was brief in comparison, over in about 20 minutes - i'm not holding my breath though.

I have my second non-qualification one tomorrow and am at a loss at what to say/do differently to the first

(as an aside, for the first appeal we received minimal information from the school's case and only at the stage 1 hearing did we learn how they allocated according to their criteria. After the Stage 1 meeting I uncovered that they had mis-administered (having gone away and then checked their allocations against their admissions criteria) but by this time they had already agreed to move to stage 2. The misadministration meant that 17 qualified local pupils were actually denied a place. I did flag this and they picked this up at my stage 2 and simply stated that due to movements in subsequent allocation rounds it will be rectified and they are dealing with it. Obviously it does not impact my child as she was non-qualified but it does raise the issue that what the school and LA did was not right and who's properly monitoring how they are allocating?)

[Etienne]

Very sorry to hear your news.

at the appeal which was for non-qualification, they asked me nothing about her academics, just acknowledged that she is a high performer and spent a whole hour grilling me on extentuating circumstances.

It's entirely up to the panel what questions they ask.
It is often clear what the academic evidence is, so no particular questions may be needed.
Extenuating circumstances can be more subjective (e.g. to what extent was this child affected?), and might require much more explanation.

I have received a simple "no" outcome and need to wait another few weeks for the detailed response.

Did they agree that your academic evidence was "strong", I wonder? We really need to wait and see what the detailed letter says.

From what I have read on this forum, the focus on non-qualification should be on academics and not extenuating circumstances or have I misunderstood?

You haven't misunderstood. You might win an appeal without extenuating circumstances, but you cannot win an appeal unless the panel is satisfied with regard to academic suitability.
The Appeals Code clearly states:

• • 3.13 An appeal panel may be asked to consider an appeal where the appellant believes that the child did not perform at their best on the day of the entrance test. In such cases:
    a) where a local review process has not been applied, the panel must only uphold the appeal if it is satisfied:
    i) that there is evidence to demonstrate that the child is of the required academic standards, for example, school reports giving Year 5/Year 6 SAT results or a letter of support from their current or previous school clearly indicating why the child is considered to be of grammar school ability; and
    ii) where applicable, that the appellant’s arguments outweigh the admission authority’s case that admission of additional children would cause prejudice.
    

We did have extenuating circumstances but I felt the chair tried hard to downplay them. When citing reasons for wanting a place (having carefully read through valid reasons on this forum and putting relevant ones forward specific to our case) the chair pretty much for most of them stated they can't really take that into account(!). When i remarked that it is not simply that one reason in isolation but rather the cumulative effect of all of them he decided to reassure me that because my child is bright she will be successful wherever she goes. I cannot help that the chair, although friendly, had a biased outlook, even mentioning how his own children did not attend a grammar and did great in life!

Very unwise of the chair, I think.

Incidentally, you can never be sure from how the hearing seemed to go what the decision will be:
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a34" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The second appeal, non-grammar, local secondary, was also intense - they focussed more on the reasons for wanting a place but again it's a no.

This is likely to be the only issue for a non-selective school, so the focus is not surprising.

I have my second non-qualification one tomorrow and am at a loss at what to say/do differently to the first

If you have covered academic evidence, extenuating circumstances and reasons for wanting a place, I see no reason to change anything. A well-balanced appeal is as set out here:
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However, there is never any guarantee of success.
Did you check the success rate at the schools you appealed for to see what the odds against you were?
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a39" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
As we say in the Q&As:

• • (d) If you are about to embark on an appeal, then you need to be realise that it can be a very stressful process. Realistically the odds are against most appeals succeeding. If you have already been bitterly disappointed at the outcome of the 11+, ask yourself whether you can face the possibility of what some forum members have described as a “second hammer blow”. However, I suspect that most parents, provided they have some sort of a case, will choose to go ahead, otherwise they will always wonder what the result might have been. Just bear in mind that, no matter how good a case you may have, it is very unwise to go into an appeal expecting to win. Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.
    
    https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Piya]

Good evening all, I have requested the clerk's notes for the appeals for one of the grammars, however, I've been told that they are the property of the panel and cannot be released, is this really the case?