Successful appeals

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Guest400

Successful appeals

Post by Guest400 »

Is there anyone out there that can shed any light or information on successful appeals? I guess there aren't many of you logging onto this site that has had a successful outcome but I would be really interested to hear about any and the reason why you think your appeal was succesful. I know this is a personal thing to ask of anyone but any indication of circumstances would be interesting. I am appealing for my son, who should have passed (like so many others I guess) but simply didn't perform on the day. I have the full backing of his headteacher etc but it probably just isn't going to be enough on the day. I would be really uplifted to hear if anyone out there has got in on appeal based on academic evidence alone from school and no extenuating circumstances but any information on successful appeals would be an interesting read. Good luck everyone else out there in the same boat as us.
jenny wren
Posts: 238
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 9:27 pm
Location: london sw

Post by jenny wren »

Guest 400

Visit this thread:-

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... php?t=2336[/quote]


I found it very usefull

Jenny :D
SJ
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 11:14 am
Location: Lincolnshire

Post by SJ »

Guest400

It will help if you advise which location you are appealing to as I would assume that the information that people could provide from the same area as you would be more relevant for you
Guest400

Post by Guest400 »

I am appealing at a Southend school, last year none of the appeals were successful, so I know my chances are almost nil. It would just be good to hear a success story or two from the last few years! I need to know there is hope out there!
Guest400

Post by Guest400 »

jenny wren wrote:Guest 400

Visit this thread:-

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... php?t=2336

I found it very usefull

Jenny :D[/quote]

thank you Jenny, I did find this interesting to read.
Maggie
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:23 pm
Location: Bucks

Post by Maggie »

Hi Guest 400
Well if our experience can be of help to you I'm glad to share. We had a successful bucks appeal on the basis of only academic record and no mitigating circumstances. Our child had a very strong academic record. The head teacher's support was crucial and we were fortunate to have a very strongly worded endorsement of our child. Even so, I went back to the headteacher after I'd read the first draft (after reading Etienne's advice) to ask him to include the phrase 'of very high academic ability' which I think was key. So I would focus on getting the best possible picture of your child's academic ability together and don't be distracted by extra curricular activity achievements (unless academic) or citizenship aspects.
The other thing which we felt was right was not to attempt to 'come up' with some mitigating circumstances such as 'nerves' or similar. We just said straight out that we didn't know what had gone wrong, we'd thought of various possibilities but there was no actual evidence we could present. Our argument was simply that all the evidence showed that the test result didn't reflect her true ability. The panel thanked us for our honesty at this point and I felt that they must get quite tired of hearing weak excuses for a child's shortfall.
Hope that helps, it can be done and I wish you all the best in your appeal.
Guest400

Post by Guest400 »

Maggie, thank you for your reply. I know exactly what you mean by just being honest. The truth is my child was tired and nervous but I guess that 99% of them were and if I was on a panel you would be tired of this sort of "excuse" so to speak. I have fortunately got a wonderful letter from the head and various class teachers and evidence of how well he did in the school mock exam etc. I am praying that is enough. Thank you for your words. Roll on May. I think about it all the time unfortunately (he doesn't know which I am pleased about). I am so pleased to hear a good outcome, they seem rare. I will keep you posted. Any more success stories out there?

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

Post by Sally-Anne »

Hi Guest400
Our argument was simply that all the evidence showed that the test result didn't reflect her true ability. The panel thanked us for our honesty at this point and I felt that they must get quite tired of hearing weak excuses for a child's shortfall.
That is one of the most succinct statements, and most truthful, that I have ever seen on the Forum about the reasons that a child did not perform on the day. Well done to you Maggie for having been entirely honest. :D

Panels are used to hearing the most extraordinary excuses for 11+ near-misses. You can go back over this section and find some of them for yourself. It is up to you to decide if there were any genuine reasons why your child did not perform on the day, but if there were none apart from nerves and tension, then just say that.

I muddled my own appeal by going in to all sorts of convoluted mitigating circumstances. If I had concentrated on the academic evidence my son would almost certainly be at a GS now. (Just give yourself another kick, Sally-Anne!)

I am not the successful appellant that you want to hear from, but I have posted before that I think those of us who appealed and didn't succeed are probably of more use. We went wrong, and we know why. Those who succeeded probably haven't many clues as to why they got lucky!

Apart from Maggie, who has her feet on the ground, that is! :lol:

I wish you luck.

Sally-Anne
Maggie
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:23 pm
Location: Bucks

Post by Maggie »

Thanks, I just wanted to add that we had the confidence to take this position because we asked Etienne's advice, and her view was that we should be straightforward in that way. We are so grateful to her for all the help she provided on this forum which we found so useful in our appeal.
Guest 400, I wish you all the best in your appeal, I will look out to see how you got on.
Waddle

Successful appeal

Post by Waddle »

I would like to confirm what others have said about not making excuses and being honest. Our first appeal (Bucks) was hear in our absence due to death of our son's grandfather. When we had a rehearing, it would have been tempting to use this as a mitigating circumstance and we were asked if this was the case. We were completely honest and said that 'no, death was totally unexpected'. We did not plead nerves, but did say, truthfully, that our son misjudged the time and guessed the last five questions. He then came away detirmined to work faster next time, and did, but still only got 118 marks (he scored 115 on the first paper).

Our strongest academic argument, though, was that he then sat a third paper with Slough LEA and gained 125, which was more in line with his previous performance in earlier year's practice tests.

A final point (whether it helped our success or not, I'm not sure) - I was extremely nervous at the appeal and asked if I could read our case. I then left the typed copy with the clerk, to support her notes. At least this way I had given considerable thought (and redraftings!) beforehand, and didn't leave out anything important. Because of my nerves, I did not think the appeal would be successful, but confirmation that we had won landed on the doormat the very next morning.

Clearly the panel felt it was only fair to put me out of my obvious agony as early as possible!

Good luck.
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