11 Plus Exams Forum

Children who attend a Kent state primary school are allowed to sit the four papers (VR, NVR, maths, and writing task) over two days at their own primary school.

Children who attend a state primary school in a neighbouring authority have to take all four Kent 11+ papers in one go at a test centre on a Saturday (even if they are children that live in Kent).

I would have thought that this puts the second category of children at a disadvantage. When I asked a member of the admissions team at Kent County Council about it they said it could be grounds for appeal if a child marginally failed or marginally failed to get the high marks required to get into one of the more selective grammar schools.

Do you think it would make a difference to a child's performance, and therefore could be grounds for appeal? And if it is, should it be administered in this very different way for children attending and not attending Kent state primary schools?

Your thoughts please.

Hi Perplexed

A little early in the season for an Appeals question - you took me quite by surprise!

If Kent Admissions say that it is a useful argument at Appeal, then who are we to argue?

However, please remember that there will be quite a number of others in the same situation. The only primary grounds for an 11+ Appeal are that your child is academically suitable for a GS, and you must always be able to provide proof of this from their schoolwork or report.

Other "mitigating factors" - such as the way the test is administered are generally secondary arguments.

I agree with the implied comment in your post, that Kent Admissions should be trying to create a "level playing field" (I hate that expression!), but if people are coming long distances to sit the Kent test, or even travelling from abroad, then it really has to be one day of tests.

Sally-Anne

If I were on the panel I would want to know more about the arrangements (the length of each test, what breaks were allowed).

If Admissions are conceding that their arrangements could be grounds for an appeal, I would ask what written evidence there is for this, or whether the representative of the admission authority will confirm.

Depending on the answers, I suspect that an appeal panel would be prepared to give some weight to this argument where the score is close to the pass mark, but I agree entirely with Sally-Anne that the academic evidence is crucial (see Q&As, B11).

As a rule of thumb, the further away from the pass mark, the stronger the case as a whole needs to be.