11 Plus Exams Forum

Can anyone advise whether I have a good chance of appeal at a super select grammar school? My daughter did the test but missed the historical cut-off score by a couple of points. She has a sister already in the school in year 8. The areas that I hope to cover at appeal would be:

Levels at end of year 5 were same or higher as her sisters at the same time (mid level 5's)
Passed both Kent & Bexley tests
Is one of the youngest in current year 6 (July birthday and was a January starter in reception at current primary)
Sibling already attends school (no sibling rule admissions criteria)
Single sex school was preferred
Lives within the borough of the grammar school, any other grammar placing would be OOC.
Also has another younger sister, and would prove difficult to get all children to school if she went to an OOC grammar school.

Would this be a strong enough case to appeal with?

Any responses or personal experiences would be gratefully appreciated.

You may want to start by read our FAQs on appeals here.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Do you know what the success rates for appeals at this school are?

Your main evidence should be academic.

I have read through the general advice pages, was wondering if anyone had appealed on the grounds that I am planning to and had success. Based on her academic performance, this is very much the same as DD1 already attending the school, I just think something went amiss with DD2 on the day!

Siblings are mentioned here : section B24c http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... lification" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Schools selecting on score alone are not
allowed to give preference to siblings. And whether or not you think that your younger child is just as clever / better than her sibling at the same point school career, in the selection tests, each has competed against her own cohort, not against her sibling.

As for her being one of the youngest in her year, the CSSE test here in Essex is the only one I have come across which doesn't standardise for age, so this will presumably already have been taken into account and your DD's raw scores will have been compared with those of children whose birthdays fall in the same band within the year group cohort taking the test. It is possible that the July birthdays were on the whole a pretty smart bunch and the mean score was relatively high, but most people argue that the later in the school year a child's birthday is, the lower their raw scores will be, so most areas do standardise for age.