Appeal in Birmingham

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Lucy2016
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2016 10:58 pm

Appeal in Birmingham

Post by Lucy2016 »

We would really appreciate your advice on our potential appeal. Our daughter is unlikely to obtain a place at her schools of choice in Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls or King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls) as she scored 210 in the 11+ exam, and the cut offs for these schools last year were 215 and 219 respectively. There was an issue which occurred during the exam which the Foundation Office has confirmed (in writing). I have provided details of the issue in an accompanying email to the appeals box (as this might identify us). We will be appealing on the grounds of mitigating circumstances.

1) We would really appreciate advice on whether we should ask for scores for each of the papers she took so that we can highlight when the issue occurred and the impact on the papers. Or whether we should just highlight that it affected her performance overall. My daughter feels that it affected her performance for the rest of the exam as she was really confused and upset following the issue. However, we are concerned that if we don’t have the evidence about individual papers then our argument will look weaker.
2) We are also not sure if we need other evidence about the effect of such an issue on our daughter's performance – educational psychologist etc.?
3) Are appeals panels generally sympathetic to issues that occur during the exam?

We have spoken to her primary school and they are happy to provide evidence to support our case as they feel she would be highly suitable for grammar school.

We understand that very few appeals are successful in Birmingham and would welcome your advice on how we approach this.

Thanks very much for any advice or suggestions.
Sally-Anne
Posts: 9235
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Appeal in Birmingham

Post by Sally-Anne »

Hello, and welcome!

Thank you for the additional information you have provided.
Lucy2016 wrote:There was an issue which occurred during the exam which the Foundation Office has confirmed (in writing). I have provided details of the issue in an accompanying email to the appeals box (as this might identify us). We will be appealing on the grounds of mitigating circumstances.
It is a good start that you have written confirmation of the issue.
1) We would really appreciate advice on whether we should ask for scores for each of the papers she took so that we can highlight when the issue occurred and the impact on the papers. Or whether we should just highlight that it affected her performance overall. My daughter feels that it affected her performance for the rest of the exam as she was really confused and upset following the issue. However, we are concerned that if we don’t have the evidence about individual papers then our argument will look weaker.

I don't know if you can apply for a remark in Birmingham, but I would hope so. If you do get one, and there is a clear disparity between her performance before the issue arose and after, it might help your case.
2) We are also not sure if we need other evidence about the effect of such an issue on our daughter's performance – educational psychologist etc.?
An EP report is most unlikely to provide worthwhile evidence on a single incident such as this. An EP report seeks to diagnose underlying, ongoing issues, and your daughter doesn't appear to have any.
3) Are appeals panels generally sympathetic to issues that occur during the exam?
No one can say how much weight an individual appeal panel might attach to an incident during the exam. They will however consider the written evidence you are able to present of what happened, and consider it alongside the totality of the other academic evidence.
We have spoken to her primary school and they are happy to provide evidence to support our case as they feel she would be highly suitable for grammar school.
Good! The stronger the evidence, the better, especially for the parts of the exam where she underperformed.
We understand that very few appeals are successful in Birmingham and would welcome your advice on how we approach this.
You must simply continue to build the strongest academic case you can.
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: Appeal in Birmingham

Post by kenyancowgirl »

The focus of any appeal has to lie with "academic ability" - you need to show that she is of suitable academic ability and then show how the event caused a blip during the exam. I would request the breakdown of the papers (if they can provide those), rather than the breakdown of Maths/VR/NVR as you want to try and pinpoint exactly when the event happened and show how her work was not as good following that. Obviously, you will have to consider that she may have been rushed towards the end (most kids are) and also how you address it if the scores do not reflect this!

Start off by reading the stickies at the top of the appeals section - mods focus will be on National Allocation day next week but, until you have formally been rejected (i.e. not offered a place at your schools - assuming you listed them as high priority on your CAF?) you cannot appeal. Make sure you accept whatever school is offered to you, despite appealing - you do not want to end up with none.

Sorry crossed with S-A who is obviously on line currently!!
Lucy2016
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2016 10:58 pm

Re: Appeal in Birmingham

Post by Lucy2016 »

Thank you both for your really helpful comments and suggestions.

We will request a breakdown of the marks for the papers as suggested.

Sorry but we're new to all this so are not really sure what is meant by 'applying for a remark'. However, when we contacted the Foundation Office (who organise the exams locally for the grammar schools) they said that marks could not be adjusted but that we had the right to appeal if our daughter was not successful in obtaining a place at a grammar school.

Yes we realise that we can't appeal until we have formal confirmation that our daughter has not been offered a place. However, as timelines are fairly tight we want to prepare as much as possible beforehand.

Thank you again for your help.
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: Appeal in Birmingham

Post by kenyancowgirl »

I think in certain areas (Kent?) you can apply for a remark....as far as I am aware, Birmingham is not one of those areas and appeal is the only option - (never, say never, about a place being offered from the waiting list, however, stranger things have happened - and you would stay on the list up until Dec of this year!)
thirdtimemum
Posts: 386
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:21 am

Re: Appeal in Birmingham

Post by thirdtimemum »

Hi Lucy, I'm sorry I don't know much about appealing but I'm not sure if you are aware that there was a thread in the Birmingham forum about concerns around the exam http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 11&t=43579" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. It may be worth looking through that thread ( there may be another too if my memory serves correct) and speaking to some of the others parents.
Also don't loose hope as scgsg reduced down to 212 on the waiting list. Good luck
KenR
Posts: 1506
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Appeal in Birmingham

Post by KenR »

The key factor for appeal would be whether there were any significant anomalies between the scores for the 2 papers as a result of maladministration etc. I don't know the full circumstances but I'm aware of the KE foundation being sympathetic in circumstances where this can be shown to have an adverse effect. I'm aware of situations in previous years where there were duplicate pages in some booklets and the foundation reviewed the impact.
Lucy2016
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2016 10:58 pm

Re: Appeal in Birmingham

Post by Lucy2016 »

Thank you for all these really helpful suggestions and comments. Thanks for the explanation about applying for a remark - as you say I don't think this is possible in Birmingham but it is really useful to know. Thank you also for the link to the thread about other concerns about the exam - we will check these out. Thank you for the comment about other cases where the impact on performance was reviewed. Thanks for all the supportive comments as well. We will post on how things progress.
mattsurf
Posts: 230
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:44 am

Re: Appeal in Birmingham

Post by mattsurf »

Just to be clear, you cannot appeal on the basis of mitigating circumstances, the appeal code is very clear; you need to appeal on the basis that there is evidence of academic ability

Evidence of academic ability would be a clear recommendation from the Headteacher, SATs levels at the end of year 5, reading age, spelling age and ideally results from CATs or Midyis test

You are entitled under data protection act to see a copy of the answer sheet (but not the question sheet) - you may be able to use this to show that your child missed a section, but of the questions answered 90% were correct. This could be especially important if you can show that your daughter's performance was very good up to the event happening and her marks deteriorated after that point

Also ask for copies of the logs on the day of the exam, was there any maladministration? were there any interruptions? were the timings correct (did they give the proper time to each paper).

Another tactic will be to show that a score of 210 does not show that your daughter is not of sufficient academic ability; ask the school how many children have entered in the past with a score of 210 or lower, then ask if children who achieve a lower 11+ mark then go on to achieve lower grades at GCSE (of course the answer is no). What you are trying to demonstrate is that the low 11+ mark is not evidence of academic weakness and you also have other evidence that your daughter has sufficient academic ability.

It is important to outline the mitigating circumstance so that the context is well understood, but do not make it the focus of your appeal

In order to give yourself the best possible chance, make sure that you read the school appeal code November 2012
Lucy2016
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2016 10:58 pm

Re: Appeal in Birmingham

Post by Lucy2016 »

Thank you for this clarification Mattsurf. Thank you for the information about the appeals code. I think I saw a posting elsewhere that you have some examples of HT reports. Please could you share these with me also?

Thank you also for all the other suggestions - we will request this information from the organisers of the exam. Thank you also for the suggestions of other arguments we can consider.

Thanks again to everyone for their support.
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