Selection Review Form -11 plus Appeal Bucks

[sbrogan]

Im completing the selection review form for parents know it might seem a silly question but ok to fill in black ink?
Section 4 is asking for what grounds for selection review but is quite a small space but says we can attach a separate sheet is this separate sheet to be typed and how long can that be just one side of A4 paper?
We have full head teacher support , predicted level 5 SATS , 1 in attitude to work and 2 in recommendation which she will obviously fill in on her form what sort of additional documentation can we send in as academic evidence ? School reports , certificates - did very well in her mock 11 + papers but do i just give the results? this is the part I'm confused about as don't want to overload with paperwork
In summary we need to send our selection review form, head teachers selection review form and supporting evidence - its this supporting evidence I need clarified?
Also getting confused reading on the forum that I could still go to appeal panel and don't necessarily need to do review can you expand on this and clarify the position as I have been only given option to review didn't realise there may be an alternative?

[Etienne]

Black ink will be fine.

The extra sheet can be typed. Nothing to stop you writing as much as you like, but we would always recommend brevity. It's the evidence that matters, and the evidence should speak for itself.

Have you followed the link to our list of possible academic evidence?
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... aneous#e32" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We don't understand why parents are being told that they must go to review or even that there is no longer any appeal.
In Medway, for example, which has long had a review process, their Guide for Parents explicitly states:

Do I have to request a review?
This is a parental decision. Even if you do not request a review, you will still be able to appeal for a Medway grammar school place, as long as you have named Medway grammar schools on your application for schools.

We are also concerned that the headteachers' manual for Bucks states:

Following an unsuccessful review, an IAP will only consider whether each child’s review was carried out in a fair, consistent and objective way. It would be only if there is no evidence that this was the case that they would consider other evidence provided by the parent seeking to demonstrate that their child is of the academic standard required for a grammar school.

However, the Appeals section of the BCC website - clearly intended for parents - makes no mention at all that a 'fair, consistent and objective review' could limit the scope of an appeal:

For entrance into Academic Year 2013-14
( i ) Grammar schools (non qualified)

If your child has sat the 11+ selection tests and did not achieve the qualifying score for a Buckinghamshire Grammar School, you can request a selection review.

The Selection Review procedure is administered by the Admissions & Transport Team of the LA, on behalf of Grammar Schools. Please do not contact the Appeals Team but contact admissions@buckscc.gov.uk or 01296 383250.

If you are unsuccessful in a selection review and you still wish to pursue your preferred grammar school, you have the right to appeal before an IAP.

[sbrogan]

Thanks Etienne so you think fairly safe to go the selection review route if strong academic evidence - I did read thoroughly the Bucks manual for parents where as you say it states we still have the right to appeal before an IAP if unsuccessful I guess they would have to honour this?
If you decided not to go down the selection review route when would you then go before an IAP and how would this process be kickstarted?
Just want to make sure I have all the info before I proceed??

[Etienne]

Thanks Etienne so you think fairly safe to go the selection review route if strong academic evidence

I'm afraid the words "fairly safe" are not in my vocabulary!
I can't go beyond saying that strong academic evidence would be needed for either a review or an appeal.

'Exceptional extenuating circumstances' appear to be normally required for a review. (Sally-Anne & I are somewhat incredulous, but that is what the review guidelines state.)

- I did read thoroughly the Bucks manual for parents where as you say it states we still have the right to appeal before an IAP if unsuccessful I guess they would have to honour this?

Yes, indeed - although you will have seen that the 'intention' appears to be not to allow parents to present their case for selection.

If you decided not to go down the selection review route when would you then go before an IAP and how would this process be kickstarted@

It would be kickstarted by the refusal to offer a grammar school place at the beginning of March.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... cation#b51" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[joan_joan]

Hi, there, anybody who has got the selection review information pack?

I was waiting for the selection review information pack but only just now I heard that I must submit a form from their website. The adviser on Monday told me that I only need to send an email to the admissions email box.

Can you please advise if the forms to be filled are the same ones stated in MOVING UP TO SECONDARY SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER 2013 Manual to Headteachers (https://schoolsweb.buckscc.gov.uk/schoo ... R_2013.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, page 66 - 69)?

Please help and many thanks in advance.

[Sally-Anne]

Firstly, are you outside of Bucks and did your child take the test at a central venue? If so then you do indeed need the Pack from Admissions. Otherwise the Head teacher should be giving it to you.

I was waiting for the selection review information pack but only just now I heard that I must submit a form from their website. The adviser on Monday told me that I only need to send an email to the admissions email box.

Do you mean that you have been asked to submit a form just in order to obtain the Review pack?

Can you please advise if the forms to be filled are the same ones stated in MOVING UP TO SECONDARY SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER 2013 Manual to Headteachers (https://schoolsweb.buckscc.gov.uk/schoo ... R_2013.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, page 66 - 69)?

The form given in that document is the form you must complete in order to submit your review, and should be in the Review pack that you have not received.

It is ridiculous that a pack you requested on Monday has not yet materialised. I suggest that you get back on the phone to them, make sure that you are actually put through to the Admissions department itself, not a (customer service advisor) and ask them to send you another pack out first class today.

[joan_joan]

Hi Sally-Anne, thanks so much for your reply.

I am applying outside of the Bucks. Yeah, I phoned them on Monday and they told me I need to submit a request via email. Today I phoned them just to check if the information pack has been sent out, then I was told I need to fill a request form from their website.

Quite worried because I am not sure the headteacher could fill the form timely within a short period of time ( suppose I can receive the forms next Monday). I will hand over the form from that PDF file to the headteacher on Tuesday if I have not received by then.

[Sally-Anne]

I am applying outside of the Bucks. Yeah, I phoned them on Monday and they told me I need to submit a request via email. Today I phoned them just to check if the information pack has been sent out, then I was told I need to fill a request form from their website.

There isn't one! It just gives an email address and a phone number.

Please ring them again!

[joan_joan]

Thanks. I think their information has been inconsistent or incomplete.

On the Appeal page, they said "The Selection Review procedure is administered by the Admissions & Transport Team of the LA, on behalf of Grammar Schools. Please do not contact the Appeals Team but contact admissions@buckscc.gov.uk or 01296 383250." but there is actually a request form to be filled out (http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/schools/e ... quest.page" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?).

Hope next year, any parent won't make the same mistake as I did.

[Sally-Anne]

On the Appeal page, they said "The Selection Review procedure is administered by the Admissions & Transport Team of the LA, on behalf of Grammar Schools. Please do not contact the Appeals Team but contact admissions@buckscc.gov.uk or 01296 383250." but there is actually a request form to be filled out (http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/schools/e ... quest.page" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?).

Utterly, impossibly confusing. That form will actually go to the Appeals team in the first instance, whereas the advice on the previous page is to email the admissions team. No mention is made in the test of that form, and the only link is in the left-hand navigation bar.

And why you weren't told on Monday that you had to fill out a form, instead of just emailing admissions defies belief.