Question for Moderators regarding appeal in Essex
Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:08 pm
Please could someone have a look at our circumstances and offer any advice on what to do? I will send the details of the schools involved via the secure link as this will give a clearer picture.
Our Son attends a primary in north Essex and has a current sats grading of 5A maths, 5A reading, 5B science and 5C english ( his spelling suffers ). He has been asked to take level 6 sats in May and has been on a G & T register for several years. We approached his school for help and guidance when we started on the 11+, but they wouldn't offer any and didn't appear to consider that one of their pupils could go to a GS. As a very low income family a tutor was out of the question, so we tutored ourselves. Unfortunately he had a horrid test day, compounded by the fact that we had been told that the Essex test was totally multiple choice and had prepared him for that. He consequently went into a panic on seeing the test and didn't finish two of the papers. He is currently ranked at 364 on the list for CRGS and has been given a place at his fourth choice, the local OFSTED grade 3 academy. Our third choice better performing comprehensive which is 6 miles away was apparently outside our catchment area. We have approached his teacher who, whilst being sympathetic said that they thought that this would happen and that any appeal was not going to succeed. When we asked if they would write to support us, we were basically put off and not given a straight answer, instead being told that "he would do well at the academy"
Reading through the other messages, everyone seems to have the support of their children's primary schools, especially when thinking about appeals. We feel that we have been deprived of this.
Our Son attends a primary in north Essex and has a current sats grading of 5A maths, 5A reading, 5B science and 5C english ( his spelling suffers ). He has been asked to take level 6 sats in May and has been on a G & T register for several years. We approached his school for help and guidance when we started on the 11+, but they wouldn't offer any and didn't appear to consider that one of their pupils could go to a GS. As a very low income family a tutor was out of the question, so we tutored ourselves. Unfortunately he had a horrid test day, compounded by the fact that we had been told that the Essex test was totally multiple choice and had prepared him for that. He consequently went into a panic on seeing the test and didn't finish two of the papers. He is currently ranked at 364 on the list for CRGS and has been given a place at his fourth choice, the local OFSTED grade 3 academy. Our third choice better performing comprehensive which is 6 miles away was apparently outside our catchment area. We have approached his teacher who, whilst being sympathetic said that they thought that this would happen and that any appeal was not going to succeed. When we asked if they would write to support us, we were basically put off and not given a straight answer, instead being told that "he would do well at the academy"
Reading through the other messages, everyone seems to have the support of their children's primary schools, especially when thinking about appeals. We feel that we have been deprived of this.