11 Plus Exams Forum

If I am going to submit a doctor's letter as part of my appeal, which will take place in the Summer but can only be submitted after March 1st, should I obain it now or wait until March so that the date on the letter will be more recent.

If the letter refers to a health condition at the time of the test then I would think that the more current it is, the better. Presumably the doctor will refer to circumstances leading up to the test and perhaps on the test day itself. A letter dated today is not as good as a letter from the period itself, but it's better than one dated March.

If it was on the day, be aware that by sending your child to sit the test, you are effectively saying that you considered them to be well enough. If it is a long term condition that may be a different matter.

My child was in good health when he went in for the test. However during the test he was unwell. I think this impacted his performance.

Did you register his illness with the school or testing centre at the time, i.e. as soon as your son told you he was ill? If he sat the test at his school, will the school records show that he was sent home after reporting illness in the test?

I think that any doctor's note should be obtained and dated as soon as you can get it and should refer to any medical appointment you were able to attend straight after the test, verifying an illness. You can see the potential problem with a doctor's note a month after the test if it doesn't refer specifically to an illness that was noted by the doctor on the day or two after the test. Likewise, if there's nothing in the invigilator or school records to attest to his illness, you don't really have admissible evidence for an appeal.

We did take our son to the doctor on the next working day regarding his illness. However I did not inform the invigilator or school because he had already sat the test. Does this mean we have no chance of an appeal being upheld.

The main aspect of the appeal should be academic ability to start with, with extenuating circumstances following after that. You could win an appeal with the former and not the later, but not the other way around.

It would have been better to contact the School earlier, but you are where you are.

Regardless you should be aware that your chances of winning an appeal for any of the Berkshire schools (Slough or Reading) are slim to none. So hope for the best but be prepared not to succeed.