Tiffin Appeal?

Consult our experts on 11 Plus appeals or any other type of school appeal

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Sally-Anne
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Thank you - I will reply as soon as I can.

Sally-Anne
Etienne
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Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Post by Etienne »

Dear whichwitch

See what S-A says, but, having read your message, my thoughts are that this is indeed a valid point to make.

I like the way you have set things out, not appearing in any way critical of the school. I would suggest expressing appreciation of all the trouble they took to try and help with appropriate arrangements. Then go on to say it was just bad luck that something unplanned for happened, which took some while for your son to recover from.
Etienne
Sally-Anne
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Hi Whichwitch

I agree with Etienne as to how to present this.

There are several leaflets on the Tourette's Action website that describe symptoms of Tourette's and how they should be managed both in and out of school. I think it would be worth printing any relevant pages out and highlighting references to the effects of stress on the level of tics.

You can't count on the panel understanding the disorder or the nuances of it, and it could otherwise come across as being just a little weak to say that because of the change to arrangements he was stressed. It is a specific problem for Tourette's sufferers, not just the generic: "Oh, s/he was very anxious before the tests" that panels hear so often.

Sally-Anne
whichwitch
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Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2008 1:07 pm
Location: Kingston

Post by whichwitch »

Thanks you two for your invaluable input as ever :)

Sally-Anne, I also have a really good booklet on Tourettes in education which I intend to photocopy relevant things from but the TA site is a good idea too.
I am planning on spending Saturday collating everything I need and trying to put words into some coherent order.

I'll keep you updated and beg for advice soon, I have no doubt!
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Post by Etienne »

It's a very good suggestion to attach an appendix with some key points about Tourettes, as I suspect many panels will have only a hazy idea about the condition.

Don't overload the panel, though. If it's more than a page or so, make it easy for them by following S-A's advice and marking the important points. (Best not to use a highlighter as there could be problems when the papers are duplicated.)
Etienne
sallyj
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Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:45 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Post by sallyj »

I've been following this thread with more than a little interest :D
The Tourettes Action website is definately a good place to start-we used it.
If you call thier helpline they are also happy to send out actual copies of thier leaflet outlining TS. It is more compact than printing out multiple pages at home. We submitted a copy with our appeals.
Best wishes,
Sallyj
whichwitch
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Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2008 1:07 pm
Location: Kingston

Post by whichwitch »

Should I submit his CAT tests from Yr4 with our appeal? His results (SAS) were 133 for Verbal - NPR 99 124 for Quantitive - NPR 94 and 129 for Non Verbal - NPR 97 his overall mean SAS was 129
Sally-Anne
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Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Without question - those are all very good scores indeed!

Sally-Anne
whichwitch
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Location: Kingston

Post by whichwitch »

Cheers, wasn't sure if they would still deem them to be relevant from 2 yrs ago.

Hi SallyJ :)
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by Sally-Anne »

Any evidence of high ability is helpful at an appeal.

(Nursery certificates for "being a clever boy" excluded!)

Sally-Anne

P.S. Hi from me too Sallyj - thank you again for offering to help whichwitch. :)
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