11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi

We were disappointed with my son's results of 118 and 119 and would like some advice regarding the appeal. The school is fully supportive and said all the right things regarding school work, suitability for grammar school, expected to pass etc. Predicted 5's in SAT'S, although after reading some of the replies tonight, will go back tomorrow and see if they can put in any 5a's or b's. My dilemma is regarding extenuating circumstances. There are no obvious factors, such a death in the family, thank goodness. However, during Yr 5 and continuing into year 6, he was bullied, which has afftected his confidence. Just prior to the 11+ we were still dealing with issues, which have now been resolved. Is it worth my adding at the appeal that he would have been anxious about what was going on at school at the time of the exams, which may have affected his performance. He has developed strategies to deal with bullying and this, I have been informed, shows a good level of maturity, which is useful in an appeal. Also his father was working abroad at the time (which is usual). Would this have any bearing at the appeal? Does the panel have any views on single parent families.
I should be able to gather quite a lot of good academic evidence to support the appeal and do not wish to jeopardise his case by adding the above extenuating points if they are not seen as relevant.

Thanks for any advice.

Dear fed up mum

If the bullying cannot be shown to have affected his schoolwork, then I think it would be difficult to claim that it affected the test results.

If his father is often away, then it will be assumed that he is used to the situation (and, again, there seems to be no suggestion that schoolwork has been affected).

With two such good scores you don't need much in the way of extenuating circumstances. Mention the above points very briefly, but don't over-emphasise them! You want the panel to focus on his academic record.

Hi

Thanks for the advice. I shall concentrate on the academic as suggested.

Hi

Just another thought when putting together our case for appeal. One area that has been mentioned on both year 4 and year 5 reports is that my son needs to improve his spellings. His overall level of literacy is above average in terms of vocabulary, reading, expressive writing etc. The only downside in literacy is his spelling. Is this something that I could mention as a possible reason for missing a couple of cruicial points (his score 118:119)?

Thanks for your advice.