11+ APPEAL

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DOROTHY

11+ APPEAL

Post by DOROTHY »

Dear Ettienne
I have 2 questions please.

We have been given an appeal date in Feb08 is there any advantage or disadvantage as to the date of an appeal? I have heard some people say that the earlier your appeal the better your chances.

My Husband & I are not sure if we should both attend the appeal as we are worried we may talk over each other or contradict each other - My sister is quite happy to come along as support for me - do you think it would be frowned upon if both parents did not attend ?
Kind regards Dorothy
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Post by Etienne »

Dear Dorothy
We have been given an appeal date in Feb08 is there any advantage or disadvantage as to the date of an appeal? I have heard some people say that the earlier your appeal the better your chances.
Rest assured - it makes not the slightest difference. Some people believe "places are being filled up", but Bucks panels take absolutely no account of places at this sort of appeal (they do not even know what the numbers currently are!).
My Husband & I are not sure if we should both attend the appeal as we are worried we may talk over each other or contradict each other - My sister is quite happy to come along as support for me - do you think it would be frowned upon if both parents did not attend ?
No problem at all - panels understand that it is not always possible for both parents to attend.

Good luck
Etienne
Guest

Post by Guest »

Hi Dorothy, I went to appeal alone 2 years ago as due to work commitments my husband was not around. I felt I would be better on my own rather than have anyone with me as i felt that if i was dissappointed with the way it went I would only have myself to blame (or congratulate as the case may be :D . the panel put me at my ease and made no reference to the fact i was alone.

Val
Waddle

Post by Waddle »

We had an early Jan appeal which was heard in our absence due to family bereavement - result was unsuccessful. Subsequently had a reappeal in late Feb which could attend, result was successful. So, date definitely not an issue. I attended the successful appeal alone, so absence of husband not an issue. But not attending at all in the case of the first appeal clearly was an issue.
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Post by Etienne »

I agree. If a panel has questions to which it really wants some answers, and no one is there to give them, I would hazard a guess that the chances of success, whatever they are to begin with, are reduced by some 90%.

The benefit of the doubt is not given ........
Etienne
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Post by capers123 »

On my panel in Gloucestershire, we hear all the appeals over 2 or 3 days. We may make our own individual decisions as we hear each case (as in 'possible', 'unlikely' or 'definitely not') but we then go through all the appeals again once we've finished. For a start, I may (often do) have a different opinion to my colleagues, so I might be outvoted on my 'unlikely' and the appeal is allowed.

At this final stage, we have a pile of appeals that could be allowed, and then we weigh these up against the needs of the pupils already in the school. We work them into a kind of priority as to the strength of the case, so the top of the list is most likely to be allowed, and working down. We know that the school can take 32 in each class, but we don't always allow 2 extra appeals per class. I'm lead to believe from chatting around our community that the school may well offer places to take it up to 32 after the appeals if we've not allowed the appeals.

Attend on own? I've not yet allowed an appeal where there is only paper - the cases have never been strong enough, but I wouldn't count it out. We prefer to reschedule the appeal if at all possible (say end of the list, or following day) so the appellant can attend. Both parents vs. one attending makes no difference. In one last year it was the first time the 2 parents had been together in the same room since they had been (literally) up in court against each other. We did offer to see them separately - I was worried that she was going to assault him during the appeal! I find that 'friends' give confidence to the person attending but can get in the way - obviously we don't take that into account, it just can be slightly irritating to me!
Capers
ruthb
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2007 12:17 pm
Location: Bucks

Post by ruthb »

Etienne wrote:Rest assured - it makes not the slightest difference. Some people believe "places are being filled up", but Bucks panels take absolutely no account of places at this sort of appeal (they do not even know what the numbers currently are!).
Hi Etienne

Now this may have been explained before (apols if it has) but how can Bucks allocate ~ 300 places out of ~900 appeals without knowing any of the numbers at the time of the appeal!

Surely they must do some sort of pre-filter. It makes no sense otherwise. (I am struggling to get my head round this).

Thanks.

Cheers, Ruth
--
Mother of a Bucks year 6 pupil!
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

No places are allocated at present - all the Local Authority knows is how many qualified and this is fewer than the number of GS places.
Appeals are heard and decided on merit - then in late/mid February the school allocation is done. At this stage some pupils out of county may not get GS places or may get allocated a different GS. If you live in Bucks and qualify you will get a GS place -

Don't worry - there is 'slack' in the sytem -
Guest

Post by Guest »

ruthb wrote:Now this may have been explained before (apols if it has) but how can Bucks allocate ~ 300 places out of ~900 appeals without knowing any of the numbers at the time of the appeal!

Surely they must do some sort of pre-filter. It makes no sense otherwise. (I am struggling to get my head round this).
Something absolutely VITAL to bear in mind is that the Appeal Panels are INDEPENDENT by law of the local authority. The Panel members don't have any interest in how many places the authority might have. In theory, every single appeal could be upheld by the Panel (which would create a huge headache for the authoirty, but none at all for the Panel members!).

Before, during and after the appeal (at least, not until several months after) the Panel has NO IDEA WHATSOEVER of how many successful appeals there have been. They consider each case, in isolation, on its individual merits.

Hope that reassures you!
DOROTHY
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2008 3:59 pm

SUPPORTING PAPERWORK FOR APPEAL

Post by DOROTHY »

DEAR ETTIENNE,
OUR APPEAL PAPERWORK INCLUDES THE HEADTEACHERS RECOMMENDATION WHICH HAS VERY DETAILED COMMENTS FOR EACH SUBJECT UNDER THE CURRICULUM AREAS. PREDICTIONS OF LEVEL 5s in
SATSs FOR ALL SUBJECTS. CONFIRMATION THAT OUR SON HAS ALREADY ACHIEVED LEVEL 5 IN HIS YEAR 5 ASSESSMENTS. A 1:2 RECOMMENDATION. NO2 POSITION ON OOS. TOP 25% FOR MATHS & ENGLISH. A VERY STRONG RECOMMENDATION FROM THE HEADTEACHER UNDER THE STATEMENT OF SUPPORT. BECAUSE OF THE UNEXPECTED 11+ RESULT WE HAD AN EDUCATIONAL PSYCOLOGISTS REPORT CARRIED OUT - THE OUTCOME BEING THAT OUR SON CAN BE CATOGORISED AS GIFTED AND THAT BECAUSE OF HIS ACADEMIC ABILITIES HE WOULD GREATLY BENEFIT FROM A GRAMMAR SCHOOL LEARNING CONTEXT AS THIS WOULD PROVIDE A WIDE RANGE AND GOOD LEVEL OF LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES , HIGH EXPECTATIONS AND AN APPROPRIATE PEER GROUP. I HAVE ALSO INCLUDED HIS KS1 SATS RESULTS AND HIS FINAL INFANT SCHOOL REPORT. DO YOU THINK WE NEED TO INCLUDE ANY MORE SCHOOL REPORTS FROM HIS PRESENT SCHOOL OR DOES HEADTEACHERTS REPORT SAY ENOUGH? AS WE DO NOT WANT TO SWAP THE PANEL WITH LOTS OF NEEDLESS PAPERWORK.
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