Appeal: Non Qualification in Bucks 119 and 117

[tinabf]

My daughter unexpectedly got the above scores, having been expected to pass. Her headteacher and form teacher whole heartedly support an appeal as they believed as do I that she is a grammar school girl. She is predicted to get 5B in Maths, 5B in Reading and 5A in writing. She had a reading age of 15.3 and spelling age of 15.9yrs when she was 11.0yrs. She is a September 9 Birthday.

So why did she get these results? ...She finds exams very stressful and gets very nervous. She has recently moved form a school where she was very happy. She left at the end of Yr 5 and started her new school at the beginning of the Yr 6 in September. We were forced to do this due to economic reasons as we could not sustain the private school fees. She has settled in very well though, so can we use this still? And will they be anti-us anyway because she was at a private school. Her last school have also sent a letter of support etc. Great Yr 5 reports

Lastly, I have been under a tremendous strain for the past two years with a mother who had a massive stroke and is now rendered paralysed, doubly incontinent and cannot communicate; plus my father now has Alzheimers after a quad by pass and asbestosis. They left their affairs in a terrible mess and I am still unravelling this mess whilst sorting out Power of Attorney and Guardianship etc. They live a distance away and I am still trying to keep them at home as this is where they are happiest and managing their care. I have been suffering from depression and exhaustion. My husband is away a lot and is only at home weekends normally. My daughter is very close to me and sensitive to everybody but partic to me. Will this help/hinder my case?

Have we got a case?

[hermanmunster]

Hi Tinabf and welcome to the forum

I am sorry to hear that you have had these results recently, difficult to handle on top of everything else.

Have you read the Q&A on appeals?

For the appeal you have to give evidence of 2 main things:

1 academic ability - which order did the scores come in? was she improving? has she had some CAT scores ? what other evidence do you have? Head teacher support very useful.

2 Extenuating circumstances - these tend to be things that have happened fairly close to the exam and have affected significantly a child who was doing very well - for example, serious illness in a close relative in the weeks / days prior to the test.
Other case would be longer term family upset / illness where the school can give evidence / scores etc to show a deterioration / failure to progress contemporaneously with the upset. eg SATS scores not improving over time in a previously high achieving child. More difficult to claim if the results are high / improving over time.

Good Luck
Herman

[tinabf]

Herman. Yes I have read the Q and A and am using this as I put together my case. I seem to have a lot of academic evidence that supports my arguments that she is a bright bunny, but there is no real reason we can see, apart from the fact she does not react well to exam pressure and panics, that explain why. She has been performing well at school generally and apart from the totally understandable 'wobbles' that have happened occasionally because she misses her old friends/school, she has done very well. There is long term strain and stress in the family as I said, but you seem to indicate that as this has not had an effect otherwise that is marked, that this might not support her case.

[hermanmunster]

Hi Tina

Sounds like you are getting all the bits and pieces together OK!

Re: the extenuating circumstances: What the panel are going to ask is why this child, who was doing so well at school, did not do quite so well on the day?

It is very difficult - I suspect that kids are affected by family illness / traumas to a greater or lesser degree and if affected one would expect it to show in their general work - it really doesn't sound as though your daughter has been affected by this as she was doing well at school.

However it is worth mentioning very briefly in your statement, similarly the school move

[Etienne]

Just to add, great sympathy for the family circumstances, but you say she's settled in very well and is predicted good KS2 levels, so I agree with Herman. A very brief mention will suffice.

With scores as respectable as 119 and 117 I doubt you need very much in the way of extenuating circumstances anyway. The focus needs to be on the strength and range of academic evidence.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/11plus ... rs.php#b11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Like Herman I would have liked to see some non-curriculum evidence such as good CAT (or other NFER reasoning test) scores. The 11+ is not a curriculum test .....

I don't think you need worry about panels being prejudiced against private education - hope that's reassuring.

[tinabf]

Should I get CAT or NFER testing done at this stage? Would it help? Its is just that we do not have this info

[Sally-Anne]

Hi Tina

CATs are administered by schools, so if the school does not do them then it will not be possible to get them done. A question was asked on this forum some while ago whether it was possible to get them administered privately and the answer was "no".

If the school have tested her reading and spelling age then the tests they have used are likely to be NFER or a recognised equivalent, so further tests would merely duplicate those.

Sally-Anne

[rubyrubyruby]

Hi Tina

what a nightmare for you-I think there is cause for optimism though

I have sent you a PM

rubyrubyruby

[tinabf]

NC Year Group KS1 SATS English KS1 SATs Maths Chronological Age Spelling Age Reading Age
Year 2 Level 3 Level 3 7 years 9 months 8 years 11 months 11.00 years

NfER English NfER Maths NfER VR Chronological Age Spelling Age Reading Age
Year 3 113 124 NC Level 3a 140 8 years 8 months 10.00 years 11.00 years
Year 4 121 105 NC Level 4c Absent 9 years 7 months 10 years 9 months 1.00+ years
Year 5 118 107 NC Level 4b 118 10 years 8 months 12.00+ years 15.00+ years

Sally Anne/any one that understands this stuff. Does this reinforce my case or hinder please? Also Iahve been told I should get the score re-checked manually? Is this a good thing or could it act against one?

[heartmum]

My daughter unexpectedly got the above scores, having been expected to pass. Her headteacher and form teacher whole heartedly support an appeal as they believed as do I that she is a grammar school girl. She is predicted to get 5B in Maths, 5B in Reading and 5A in writing. She had a reading age of 15.3 and spelling age of 15.9yrs when she was 11.0yrs. She is a September 9 Birthday.

We went through this last year (DC attained 120/118) .. so I know how you are feeling at the moment x x x

Our school doesn't do CATs so I had to show academic ability by other means .. predicted SATs, school report comments that referred to DCs academic abilities. Your DDs predicted SATs look good, they show that she is working at higher level 5s (something the appeal panel are looking for). Make sure you get all this information in writing from the school, on headed paper, which can be presented to the panel to back-up your arguments for your DDs abilities.

In our DCs case we were successful at appeal and they have been at their grammar school since September. They love the school and are doing well in all subjects

Wishing you the best of luck in your appeal x x x