11 Plus Exams Forum

Dear All,

My son has a medical condition a bit rare but doesn’t interfere much in his life unfortunately he had an injury couple of wks before the test and we with our many years of knowledge worked the best home remedies and played it all down. Although I did take Ds to walk-in emergency when he was injured.
Will this count as an extenuating circumstance and GP medical letter as evidence. The medical issue is known to cause extra bleeding, fatigue and anxiety.

Theonly1, did u succeed at ur appeal? Coz I think we are trying to appeal to a hard school wrt appealing.

Many thanks

Could mods please split this thread?

I think it is assumed that if you allowed your child to sit the test then he was fit to do so.

Welcome to Appeals!

Start here:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 35&t=35032" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Will this count as an extenuating circumstance

It sounds like an extenuating circumstance, but it may not carry any weight if you sent him in to the test knowing that he was not in a fit state.

What really matters, though, is the academic evidence.

• • Whatever the circumstances may be, remember:
    
    The basis of an appeal against non-qualification should be the overall strength of the alternative academic evidence. You might win an appeal with strong academic evidence but no extenuating circumstances. You cannot win an appeal with extenuating circumstances but insufficient academic evidence.
    [Q&As]

You also need persuasive reasons for wanting a place at the school being appealed for.

Mitigating circumstances don’t carry any weight?
We didn’t know if the test could be postponed. Took actions one by one without realising we will be at this stage by the end of it....

Since it’s a rare disease and idiopathic ( no cause ) , we try to play it down and while it can be life threatening, not unless there is internal injury, our son has been able to live with lesser anxiety and fear coz we learnt to play it down.....rather than making a big issue of it.

I feel not taking him to doctors and working too hard to find a solution would have put him in far more dangers of feeling sick.....chronically all his life.

It’s our family solution cause docs suggested to keep him safe, look after and pray.

And unfortunately for him this was the biggest injury in 6 yrs..... thankfully he doesn’t remember all the trauma of toddlerhood when we were taking him to the best of doctors and getting hospitalised for every small bump.

Suggest if I should stay away from drama coz it has no weightage ?

It's not that extenuting circumstances don't carry any weight, it's that no amount of mitigating medical evidence will make up for a lack of evidence of academic suitability. Have you got a solid case to prove academic suitability to the school in question? If you have, then the medical circumstances may be considered as a reason why he underperformed with respect to expectations on the test.

You need to make academic evidence the foundation of your appeal, not the medical circumstances.

As Etienne pointed out though, sending him to school to sit the test implies you considered him fit to do so.

Yes anotherdad, he is academically bright, also supported by HT but as we r new in country, very few UK specific academic evidences.

The school is highly suitable for the boy due to diverse curriculum, matching interests and schools specialisms but stating these can’t be enough?

Although he has few certificates that match the school specialisms.

Nobody can guarantee that you will win an appeal.

You need to provide as much academic evidence as you can.

Without academic evidence you have no chance.

If you have mitigating circumstances (extenuating circumstances) for why he did not perform as well as his academic ability should have done (evidenced by academic evidence) then provide these.

These MIGHT make the difference if you have a strong academic case. Without a strong academic case, these will NOT make the difference.

Even with a very strong academic case, the panel may decide that your case is not strong enough.

If you have not been in the country long then you may need to speak to the teachers about his progress over the time - if he adapted well to the new system and progressed very quickly then that may be evidence of ability

Thanks all for the comments, can we do anything now for academic evidences outside of school. HT has given a very positive recommendation but the school doesn’t conduct many national curriculum tests maybe bcoz it’s a free school.

My son’s rapid growth and progress can be shown thru his moving from lower group to highest group within a yr be t again....I don’t have it in numbers although supported bt HT.