11 Plus Exams Forum

We have just been sent a letter from The Skinners' School explaining why our DS has not been allocated a place prior to an appeal. Bizarrely the letter has been cut and pasted from a previous year and whilst they have changed the date at the top of the letter, all the dates referred to within the letter are for entry in September 2010!! Not only that, they have listed the pass mark as 409 but it was 407 this year. 409 last year. This all seems very odd indeed. Is it not to be expected that a school would issue correct data etc? I am really amazed and nonplussed. What do you all think?

Hi...yes we got the same letter and I thought the same thing Looks like last years letter recycled although it has the 2011 header on it....I think (now going back to look at letter .....).I agree that the letter should be an accurate reflection of this years intake. Any advice from anyone would be great To be honest it gives the impression that they really cannot be bothered with the appeals procedure ...but then again maybe its because I am just a stressed out parent
Thanks in advance
Tigger
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Very slapdash of them.

If this letter is actually meant to be part of the appeal paperwork, I think it will need redoing. Someone will probably query it, at which point they should issue a correction.

Our letter was the same.

Etienne, out of very idle interest what would happen if a letter to correction wasn't issued? As the op says the letter is very specific to last years intake so if a parent thought the 2010 bit was just a typo they would be relying on the wrong info for their appeal....At this point I should say that I called them about this explaining that I thought that it was last years info to be told that it was a simple typo and just should replace 2010 with 2011. I am having a traumatic couple of weeks at home so took them at their word at the time....

Not having seen the document in its entirety, and not knowing when the appeals are, it's still not clear to me whether this is intended to be part of the school's case. It sounds a bit like a formal letter of refusal to admit, which is technically what gives you the right to appeal.

As far as the school's written appeal case is concerned, you must be sent details at least seven working or school days before the hearing (not including the date of the hearing or of sending out the papers). If it is incorrect or incomplete, and you are then presented with significant new information at the hearing, the panel ought to ask you whether you want an adjournment so that you have time to consider the new information.

Further to my post yesterday, I wanted to add that the Clerk to the Governors at Skinners' has sent us a photocopied pack of our appeal docs and it was missing most of the letter we wrote and the reference from the form teacher!! Did anyone else have a problem? We are trying to contact the clerk to be sure that the right docs have been sent to the panel. EVEN more amazement on my part as to the poor handling of such an important issue.

Hi Laurash, I still have to send our evidence to the clerk but I do know of one other parent who rang me today to say that their appeal statement and academic evidence was missing. They have contacted the clerks office and are waiting for a reply

Tigger

Just wondered if anyone has managed to speak to the appeals clerk yet? I am hoping to call them tomorrow but decided to post first to see if anyone has news. Also ,does anyone know how many appeals have been submitted this year?

Thanks
Tigger
x

Hi Tigger2

My husband called the office last week and spoke to someone senior there who told him that the clerk was not back until yesterday. We have sent two emails and a voicemail but she still hasn't called him, which is frustrating to say the least. The person he spoke to last week was very apologetic and said that Skinners had been informed of the mistakes in the letter and were apparently going to reissue another letter. He also apologised profusely for the errors with our paperwork and said that all the evidence was in our file BUT he could not guarantee that it had all gone to the panel members. My husband asked him / and or the clerk to get back to him to confirm that the correct documents had gone to the panel but as I mentioned above , there has been no further contact. My husband is calling the office today and I would be grateful to hear from you if you get an answer when you call.