11 Plus Exams Forum

Please can anyone give me some last minute advice.

We have our sons appeal tomorrow. He got 118x 2. 1:1 and ranked 4th. Excellent Head support.Only one passed out of 25, she was 7th on list.

Worried as only one passed. But also wondering if we should take in his books. English books is great BUT maths lots of comments about careless work, can do better etc.

IS it best to take no books?

we are happy(ish!!) with our evidence but not this one book!!!
He did optional NC tests at school in Dec got:
English 5b
Maths 5c
Science 5b have letter from school.

Previous VR scores 121 and 131

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help.
My best wishes to everyone on this forum.

Kind Regards
Elaine

Hi Elaine

We had our (successful) appeal on Thursday. Like you we had a lot of good evidence but were unsure as to whether we should take books in because of some comments.

We decided not to as we did not want a good case being spoiled by a few comments. The panel did not ask or seem concerned that we did not have his books.

Hope that helps.

MelW

Dear MelW

Thank you for your reply.
I am so nervous about the appeal and that is one less thing to worry about.

It is so great to hear all the success stories. Well done to you and your family.

My best wishes to everyone especially those who don't have the outcome we all hope for.

Kind Regards

Elaine

Hi,
Had similar problem with work in books. Took photocopies of some really good pieces as well as some work which had been on display and didn't refer to why we hadn't brought books. We had successful appeal. I suppose it all depends on how much evidence the panel needs to see....ie. how close is the score to the pass mark. Perhaps consider taking books except maths - VR seems to be far more relevant in this situation.
Good luck to you, anyway. Hope it goes well.

elaine67 wrote: IS it best to take no books?

I wouldn't worry too much about this, Elaine. Generally speaking, it's rare for school work to be a decisive factor.

If you don't bring work with you, no one is going to complain.

If you do bring work with you, bring routine work in exercise books, not carefully selected pieces of work. English, Maths (and perhaps Science) exercise books would be a good choice because these relate to KS2 predictions and to the quartiles specified on the headteacher's statement. Don't worry about teachers' comments about effort or presentation - the panel will be much more interested in achievement.

If you were to bring the English exercise book but not the Maths, the panel might be suspicious, so it's best to offer a reason, e.g. "The maths book was needed at school today."

Hope this helps

Thank you Etienne, Lynsey and MelW,

I was so grateful for your advice.

We didn't take any books and the panel didn't ask for them.

The appeal was ok, friendly panel etc.

Not feeling good about the outcome. Some hard questions.

We did our best.
Good luck to everyone about to go.

Glad it is over
Elaine

dear elaine,
really nervous about my son's appeal - don't know what to expect - what sort of questions were you asked?
regards dorothy

Hi Dorothy,

We were asked what books he reads.

How he felt after the exams.

How he felt when he got results.

Why only one pass, and that she was 7th on the list. ?????? WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT!!!!!!

Could we give any reason as to why he didn't perform well.

BEST OF LUCK

Will try to remember more.

Elaine

Good luck Elaine67 -here's hoping you get the result you want!

Got the letter and it's not what we had hoped.

I thought we had a strong case.

Makes it harder to understand because my son thought he had got near 100% on both papers. On the many practice papers he took he was scoring high 90's. Guess Sept born didn't help.

Thank you all for your superb help and support.

Elaine