Hi I am looking for help for appealing to TWBGS as my son missed out on the 11 plus by 3 points.
Deputy head seems very helpful and positive but teacher not so much. She has only taught my son for 4 weeks and he passed all his mock 11 plus tests with 80 percent for maths and 60 percent for English and 70 percent for reasoning.

What academic evidence do I need? Should I keep working with him to get him to the best level possible.

Also ds suffers terribly from anxiety could it be worth pursuing this avenue?

I had to appeal for both my sons - now Y11 and Y8 to go to TW boys' grammar. Both appeals successful. I would say go for it! The only thing against is if your son has considerable anxiety, would the pressure at a grammar school be good for him emotionally?

Hiya - how about you don't let on that you're appealing. If your appeal is upheld, you tell him. If not, he's not to know.

I appealed 3y ago for TWGSB and was successful. I was lucky enough to have our Headteacher write a letter of recommendation and wrote a heartfelt plea, which I read to the panel. It is traumatic as you're reliving the reasons why your son just missed out. My DS had had a brilliant year in Y5, won prizes galore for academic achievement, so we were surprised when he missed by 1 mark (also English) - but managed a high pass and well above the 320 cut off.

KCC were brilliant in giving me a detailed breakdown of his scores, so I could see exactly where he'd gone wrong (ultimately it came down to the spelling section) and this helped form the basis of my argument for a place for him. In fact, his marks were not so bad and he'd got more than half right but given standardisation and that he is an October birthday boy, his marks were not sufficient to have reached the holy grail of 106.

Talk to the Admissions Office at KCC - they were instrumental for me. They explained the whole process and crucially how many places were on offer and how many other appellants there were. Also, chat to other Mums / Dads who've been through the appeal process. Be warned it's not for the faint hearted, but I felt I had to do it to vindicate my son's hard efforts and ultimately it paid off.

Best of luck to you and your son

Welcome to Appeals!

You should certainly consider how your son would cope with the pressures of grammar school, but you could keep your options open by appealing in March. (No need to tell him!)
Appeals do not take place until the summer term, so you have time to see how he develops in Y6.
You are free to withdraw your appeal at any time.

Lots of reading to do.
Start here.

Once you've finished reading, if you still have unanswered questions, do please let us know.

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Etienne

Wow thanks everybody, he thrives on doing well is maybe a little hard on himself. Anxiety is mainly exams or something he really struggles with. Once he learns it he’s fine and it does not happen that often.

I think I will try and appeal and just not say anything.

I would be grateful for all advice x