Special Factors which may have affected attainment?

[Wish Upon A Star]

Just got a letter home from school making us aware of our LEAs assessment procedures explaining that the LEA "take into account special factors which may have affected individual children's attainment and performance eg his/her education has been disrupted through ill-health,change of schools, domestic problems or any other cause."

My question is what could be considered 'any other cause' do you all think?

Thanks.

Wish upon a Star

[Guest]

ALIEN ABDUCTION?

Seriously, I have seen a news item (can't remember where) that referred to "death of a pet on the day of the test", although this may be with regard to GCSEs. The compensation allowance was 2%, someone asked if in the unlikely event that 50 tropical fish die on the day of the test would the student be given 100% compensation. The compensation, I believe, for death of a pet the day before the test is 1%.

In this day and age the arrest and detention of a student for a suspected criminal offence may be considered a disruption to their education.

[sleepless]

Constant changes of teaching staff, possibly.

Having been previously in a class where there was serious behaviour issues.

Bullying

Just a few ideas.

[Wish Upon A Star]

Thanks for those two replies.I wonder how many % would actually be given for Alien Abduction ? I have heard that one year a parent used the fact that their child was deemed to have failed their yr.6 cycling test as a reason to have under-acheived in the 11+! Since then, the school do the cycling test in the Summer term! Another year, a parental letter was written because the child had a bit of a cold!

Any other ideas??? Do you think it's worth a try anyway?

[ET]

I am sure that any self respecting alien would provide you with a note to present to the Appeals board

[Flapjack]

Are the appeal board not alients anyway?

Seriously, I have had the experience of an appeal and it was not fun, let me lell you.

[Wish Upon A Star]

Thanks again for the replies....both the serious and witty suggestions!

I don't think I'll be writing in with any special consideration factors anyway {unless of course my poor child is actually ill or alien abducted on the day}! He scored 96% in his final practice paper today even though he is totally fed-up with the weekly prep. and just wants the exam over and done with. My sentiments also!

GOOD LUCK to all of your children in the same boat. Not long to go now.

Wish Upon A Star

[Robyn]

Hello,

Does anyone know what kind of questions they ask at the wirral appeal boared.

[Sleepless]

Not in your area but generally the appeal panel is there to decide if your request for admission of your child outweigh any prejudice to the provision of education in the school you are appealing for a place at.

Questions may vary according to the appeal you have put forward but may include questions like:

Was the school your first choice.

Has your child been offered a place at a school on your preference list, if so, where on the preference list.

What do you believe your child can offer the school.

Why can the child not go to the school allocated.

Appeal panels are meant to be impartial. In general this is true but if there are many appeals for one school, the chances of success are greatly diminished so the process is not wholly impartial.

You should bare in mind that you cannot simply state that your child is "bright" and that that is the reason why they should have a selective place. The appeal panel are likely to contend and may truly believe that comprehensives or secondary moderns are just as able to stretch the bright children.

Basically, you need to go as far as possible to ensure that the panel believe that the school you are appealing for is the only school your child should attend.

[sundayroast]

On a seperate thread Catherine has supplied this link, which is notes to Buckinghamshire Headteachers. This yields many a useful thread for this discusssion:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/schools/docum ... 1_plus.pdf

Thanks to the eagle-eyed Catherine.