Appeal advice Kent

[KaSi]

Hi, we're about to appeal for a Kent grammar school place in March, reason, non-qualification. Have read a lot of info on here about keeping the presentation short and concise, but have seen appeals from last year, from friends, that include photos/extra curricular activities including references etc. Does it make sense to include extra things if it relates to the ethos of the school we are applying to or not?
Also another question - our child with a minute to go realised they'd missed out a double page on the last paper and frantically tried to answer them. They apparently at lunchtime were quite hysterical and in tears about it, feeling they'd failed. Ironically they scored their highest mark on this paper. However it meant they went into the afternoon English essay paper (to be looked at in borderline cases) very upset. Is this worth mentioning under extenuating circumstances or not? It was mentioned to the school at the time but am not sure if they reported it further or not, I think not.
Any advice on both subjects would be very helpful.
Thank you.

[Etienne]

Welcome to Appeals!

..... have seen appeals from last year, from friends, that include photos/extra curricular activities including references etc. Does it make sense to include extra things if it relates to the ethos of the school we are applying to or not?

If you can get over the qualification hurdle, the criterion will be whether your reasons for wanting or needing a place outweigh any prejudice to the school.
The risk of what you're proposing is that you might appear to be arguing what an asset your child will be to the school, instead of demonstrating why this would be the right school for your child.

Faith schools might be thought of as having a distinctive ethos, but leaving that aside, don't most schools profess similar ideals?

To be honest, I can't recall any appeal that succeeded on the basis of photos/extra curricular activities including references.

Also another question - our child with a minute to go realised they'd missed out a double page on the last paper and frantically tried to answer them. They apparently at lunchtime were quite hysterical and in tears about it, feeling they'd failed. Ironically they scored their highest mark on this paper. However it meant they went into the afternoon English essay paper (to be looked at in borderline cases) very upset. Is this worth mentioning under extenuating circumstances or not? It was mentioned to the school at the time but am not sure if they reported it further or not, I think not.

Unless there is evidence (e.g. someone noted that your child appeared very upset, or you put something in writing at the time), it's not really worth raising as an issue.
However, if during the question and answer session you find yourself pressed for reasons why your child might have underperformed, you could say "I wasn't going to mention this but ......."

Where there's no evidence, it's better to downplay extenuating circumstances rather than highlight them.