"girls that are unwell on the day of the test should not be presented at the school......enrol for the later second test. Doctor's certificate must be provided".
Agreed - not applicable.
It also states that "school form asks if the applicant requires special arrangements to sit the test....e.g. particular disability, difficulty with mobility. In such cases, extra time or individual supervision can be arranged prior to the test."
Agreed - not applicable.
They also say that "CAF asks for any requests for special consideration for exceptional medical or social grounds and that it must be supported by the documentation from the professional."
My understanding is that this rule is usually applied very strictly, and that in effect you would have had to prove that
only this school could meet your child's needs. Besides, this relates to school preference,
not to the 11+ testing process.
It looks to me, then, that the school can only rely on the paragraph in the Code of Practice:
the panel should consider ........ whether the family made the admission authority aware ........
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... cation#b31" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It seems quite reasonable for the panel to
consider this point, but I would hope that any fair-minded panel would accept that you had very good reasons for
not raising any concerns at the time.
If you can, try to avoid going into too much detail in your presentation, lest the panel think "
She doth protest too much!". To some extent, let the evidence speak for itself. Focus very concisely on the
broad points you want to put across: e.g., "
considerable academic potential", "
significant new information that was not available at the time of the test". (Interestingly, if you had already had an unsuccessful appeal, the emergence of significant new information that was not - and could not have been - available at the time of the appeal would probably have entitled you to a fresh hearing!)
There are ways of avoiding too long a presentation:
1. When invited to put questions to the school representative, you have an opportunity to query politely anything in the school case. You should still avoid going into detail about your own case, which has yet to be heard, but you're on safe ground if you focus on what the school case is saying. For example, if they have referred to 'exceptional social/medical reasons', it would give you the opportunity to ask "
Would you agree that this relates to school preferences rather than the 11+ testing process?" and "
Would you agree that this rule is usually applied very strictly, and that it tends to be used in cases where no other school could meet the child's needs?" "
So would you accept that it has no relevance to our particular case as we've never sought to argue that?"
2. If you can limit your presentation to the broad arguments, your specific points are usually much more effective if you let the panel draw them out of you in the question & answer session. There is always the worry that they may not ask you the 'right' questions, but you have two ways of dealing with this:
- (a) If you sense that the questions & answers are coming to an end, you can always say "Could I just add something which I think is important ........"
(b) Secondly, you can always slip something into your summing up at the very end, if you feel it has not been covered.
Good luck!