Oversubscription Appeal: Acedmic Evidence from Tutor
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 11:28 am
Hello, can you advise please on whether academic evidence from a tutor is worth submitting?
Our daughter passed the 11+ (CSSE - Essex) and got a score that would normally have got an out of catchment place in her first preference school. The school allocates out of catchment places according to ranked score in the 11+ until all places are filled. This year she seems to be quite a way off the cut-off and a long way down the waiting list - we are desperate for her to go to her first preference school for many reasons.
There was quite a difference between her individual scores: 44/60 on English and 24/60 on maths (she said she had lost focus by the time of the second paper). We are lodging an oversubscription appeal on the grounds that extenuating circumstances prevented her from working to her full potential - severe circumstances at the time of the exam but also over the course of a number of years before that (I will send a seperate note to the appeal box with additional confidential information).
We have had a letter of support from the school, which they indicated they would be very happy to do, but it is very weak. Some slightly above average scores and not much by way of enthusiastic and positive comments. It is helpful in that it indicates that there was a drop in Year 5 and the start of Year 6, which is our main agument.
I'd like to ask whether it would help the case to submit further academic evidence from a tutor? I have read around this on the fourum and know that generally mentioning tutors does not help - our daughter had only 4 sessions over the summer as a refresher, so was not heavily tutored. She was tested at the start and at the end, and her scores (particularly in maths) went up significantly - we think this supports our argument that she has not been working to her full potential, and when challenged she responds quickly.
Can you advise on whether the evidence from the tutor would help the case, or is it that any reference to our daughter being tutored would simply be taken negatively?
Also, as she did pass the 11+ does the academic case sill matter as much? I think it does as the argument seems to be that were it not for extenuating circumstances she would have scored more highly and been further up the allocation list..
Thank you very much.
Our daughter passed the 11+ (CSSE - Essex) and got a score that would normally have got an out of catchment place in her first preference school. The school allocates out of catchment places according to ranked score in the 11+ until all places are filled. This year she seems to be quite a way off the cut-off and a long way down the waiting list - we are desperate for her to go to her first preference school for many reasons.
There was quite a difference between her individual scores: 44/60 on English and 24/60 on maths (she said she had lost focus by the time of the second paper). We are lodging an oversubscription appeal on the grounds that extenuating circumstances prevented her from working to her full potential - severe circumstances at the time of the exam but also over the course of a number of years before that (I will send a seperate note to the appeal box with additional confidential information).
We have had a letter of support from the school, which they indicated they would be very happy to do, but it is very weak. Some slightly above average scores and not much by way of enthusiastic and positive comments. It is helpful in that it indicates that there was a drop in Year 5 and the start of Year 6, which is our main agument.
I'd like to ask whether it would help the case to submit further academic evidence from a tutor? I have read around this on the fourum and know that generally mentioning tutors does not help - our daughter had only 4 sessions over the summer as a refresher, so was not heavily tutored. She was tested at the start and at the end, and her scores (particularly in maths) went up significantly - we think this supports our argument that she has not been working to her full potential, and when challenged she responds quickly.
Can you advise on whether the evidence from the tutor would help the case, or is it that any reference to our daughter being tutored would simply be taken negatively?
Also, as she did pass the 11+ does the academic case sill matter as much? I think it does as the argument seems to be that were it not for extenuating circumstances she would have scored more highly and been further up the allocation list..
Thank you very much.