11 Plus Exams Forum

Our Appeal was heard this week and after months of worrying we received our letter advising us that we had been successful
I had to read it several times to make sure! My husband and I would like to say a HUGH thank you to everyone on this site. Your information and tips were invaluable, without them we would not have been prepared enough for our appeal.The panel members on the day were very nice and put me at ease, although they did ask me quite a lot of questions. We had no mitigating circumstances just good academic evidence, very strong support from our headmaster, predicted level 5s, 1:2 recommendation, no 2 on the oos etc, 11+ scores 117 & 120.
Needless to say we are absolutely delighted ,but very sorry for those who have not been as lucky as us . I know how devastating it must be. It does not seem fair that a child's future at a Grammar school is decided by two 50 minute tests. Surely it would be better if their academic achievements could be taken into consideration as well as the 11+ test result.
Good luck to those whose appeal is still to come. Try not to panic too much on the day. The panel just want to try and find out as much as they can about your child so they can make an informed decision - after all you know your child better than anyone.

Dear Dorothy

What good news!

You had the advantage of two good scores, but sadly we know that that is no guarantee of success.

I'm so pleased for you that I'm going to shout:
CONGRATULATIONS!

Great news Dorothy....congratulations!!!

Still wating for our letter....really hoping it would arrive today - roll on Monday - just need to know one way or the other................

Camden

Dear Etienne,

thank you once again for all your help and support

dorothy x

good luck camden

everything crossed for you.

D

Well done - you are clearly not in the land of thsoe who do not understand what is going on!

but good for you.

Could i ask, what did you say re the results your child achieved as they were the same as mine (ie mitigating circumstances) and we failed - would really apprecaite your thoughts, thx

I am devastated i let my son down.

Sally

Dear Sally,
I am so sorry to hear your news - I know how you must be feeling - it has been on my mind night and day for months now. When you ask about results do you mean the 11+ ( 117 & 120 )? If so the panel never referred to them. I enclosed all of my son's junior school reports plus his last infant school report and KS1 results ( 3s ). In all of his reports it stated that he is a high achiever and wants to be the best at everything, however he tends to rush things to finish first - One of the panel picked up on this and asked me that when my son is rushing, is he likely to make silly mistakes. We had also had a educational psychological report done which stated that my son could be categorised as gifted etc - not sure if this had any bearing as the only question I was asked about this was why We decided to commission a EP report. We had a VERY strong headmaster's report and our school is a good performing school. My son is in the top groups/tables for all his subjects. The oos was fairly acurate aswell - my son was no2 ,the no1 passed and then several below my son passed too - possibly indicating that my Son's score was a blip. He was predicted 5s in KS2 (having already attained level 5s in the 3 core subject last yeat Y5). Please let me know if there is any other info you need. Don't give up if you feel you have a strong case ,try and come up with some more academic evidence and try for another appeal date of perhaps the ombudsman.

Hi Dorothy, thk you so much for your help - my god, i did none of that and that probably explains it!

I just rocked up with the headteachers report, 2 in fact, predicted SATS results anf told them how GS would be right for him. I was advised not to take sch work as it can look a bit messy, typical 10 yr old boy! So i replied strongly on the heads feedback/ recommendations.

I wonder whether they should make it cleaerer what they want to see - if the want Ed Psyc reports my mum could have done 1 - it would be much easier if they said 'we require the following' then we are not all guessing!

Thx for your help again and well done, not sure i can be bothered to fight an invisible system

Sally

well, it's been a while since I posted here...our son got the same scores as yours..he's always had good scores, he was level 3 at KS1 predicted level 5s and I can't help but thinkwe have let him down. I checked his reading age after our appeal and it was about a year and a bit above his chronological age, BUT it had only improved one month since the last test a year ago, and yet his spelling age had gone up another two years..so, we got another reading test and lo and behold it's a million times better than the one we went to appeal with...I could scream!
if my other half were not away on business all the time, i didn't work full-time, and we dedicated a bit more time to homelife we might be celebrating as well. As it stands I am telling myself that the hard work we do as parents and the commitment that we show in everything we do will rub off on our son and that he will be a great success whichever shool he goes to. He knows we love him, he works very hard and he will do well, he is a very special little boy and the world is his oyster. I know he would have been great at a grammar school, so does his dad, who, quite strangely didn't get in on appeal many many years ago either!! We turned out with very good jobs and very happy lives. Non-GS is not the end of the world... we have had some very bad times over the past 18 months and it is time to put them aside and move on now. 11+? Who needs it?!

Dear Bah

Please don't feel that somehow something you did or didn't do explains not winning your appeal. I work full time as well, and my husband is often away a lot on business (though we did both go to the appeal-not that it helped). I'm certain that your son will achieve all that he desires regardless of whether he goes to grammar school or not, and just because you're not at home as often as some other parents, it doesn't mean that you haven't spent enough time with your son and this has contributed to him not getting into grammar school. The best example a child has is their parents, and both my husband and I grew up with working mothers which has subsequently engendered us both with a strong work ethic and a positive attitude to work. As parents, we can only do the best, at the time, that we are able. I'm certain that the love and support that we give to our children will enable both of our sons to realise their dreams (though not sure if my son's desire to be a formula one racing driver is quite what I had in mind).

Take care
Sharon