Advice - independent appeal

[Wellingtonia]

We’re currently preparing evidence to submit an appeal for our son in Buckinghamshire. We didn’t go through selection review process due to awaiting additional evidence, so believe this is called an independent review. Thank you for all the useful advice provided on this forum. I wonder if anyone could help us with a specific question, as I haven’t found anything similar.

Background: score 116, (academic potential 2, ATL 3). We were awaiting diagnosis of SEN/ADD which was received post selection review deadline. Also we wanted to wait for predicted SATS due to a dip in academic scores/ATL just in the last six months of year 5 and at time of transfer test (mum was diagnosed with cancer and undergoing treatment, which has had a huge impact on our family and child - extenuating circumstances). SATS scores in year 6 are high, effort is (in schools words) ‘superb’ (back to working at Greater Depth maths and reading) but only provided verbally by school. Every school year 1-4 progress showed GDS for maths and reading, EXS for writing (due to SEN).

We received the following from our child’s school when requesting SATS predictions and school work:

“Further to our earlier conversation, I have been looking into the situation and have discovered that because you have chosen to go for an Independent Appeal it is not for the school to get involved in. Schools are requested by the Secondary Transfer Test Team to get involved with Selection Reviews.

What you need to do is to make your case as to why you didn’t go for Selection Review and why you believe your child is a suitable candidate for a Grammar School.

Having looked at the guidance it states that ‘outside of the Selection Review Process, schools are not obliged to provide any academic evidence at this stage.’

I’m sorry we can’t be of any further assistance at this time.”

Basically, our child’s school is refusing to get involved - we were hoping for a letter of support from the head or class teacher, and some examples of work.

Any advice would be appreciated, we found this really unusual and surprising.

Many thanks

[Etienne]

Welcome to Appeals!

‘outside of the Selection Review Process, schools are not obliged to provide any academic evidence at this stage.’

First of all, it is correct that this is the guidance to primary schools from the LA, but note the words "are not obliged".
Schools are not prohibited from supporting an appeal, and our experience on here is that few Bucks primary schools refuse to help; most will do the best they can for their pupils.
In any case, one might perhaps have expected the headteacher to be sympathetic in so far as you embarked on the review process (I assume you did as there is a 2:3 recommendation), but did not complete it for good reason.

Secondly, you have a legal right to any information in your son's school record.
See: B20(c)
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/advic ... cation#b20
The school record is unlikely to state judgements such as "superb", but will probably give factual information such as SATs test scores.

Thirdly, I agree with the headteacher's statement that "What you need to do is to make your case as to why you didn’t go for Selection Review and why you believe your child is a suitable candidate for a Grammar School", but it rather misses the point that to demonstrate why your child is suitable for grammar school you need an update from the school which supersedes the academic information available last October.

[we] believe this is called an independent review

I don't recognise this term.
Just to avoid any confusion, what we're talking about here is an independent appeal as correctly shown in your thread title.

Please come back with any further questions.

[Wellingtonia]

Thank you Etienne for the warm welcome and information. That is very helpful. We didn’t go to selection review because of the academic evidence available to us in October. Today the school had provided SATS predictions but we are unsure whether it is reasonable for us to request them to support our appeal. Should we be submitting such a statement with our evidence or will the appeals board directly write to the school regarding this? What would be expected by the appeals board? Is it reasonable for us to ask for examples of our son’s work and do we have a right to request and access this?
We genuinely hoped the school would have been more supportive and at this point there is no y6 report to include.
Thanks agss as in.

[Etienne]

We didn’t go to selection review because of the academic evidence available to us in October.

But did you get as far as requesting the school to provide a headteacher's review summary sheet? - that's where the 3:2 recommendation would normally come from.

we are unsure whether it is reasonable for us to request them to support our appeal.

It was perfectly reasonable for you to ask them, but (apart from factual information in the school record) I don't think you can insist.

Should we be submitting such a statement with our evidence

A statement of strong support would obviously be useful.
A statement of lukewarm support wouldn't be useful!
If there is no statement of support, it helps that you have a written explanation from the school that it is not policy to provide support for appeals. (Knowing that other schools provide support, an appeal panel might possibly feel you have been unfairly disadvantaged.)

or will the appeals board directly write to the school regarding this?

The appeal panel will not contact the school.

What would be expected by the appeals board?

See B48:
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/advic ... cation#b48
"Ideally a panel might like to see in a letter from the school ......"

Is it reasonable for us to ask for examples of our son’s work?

It's not unreasonable, but I'm not sure it helps.
It used to be possible to take school work to a face-to-face hearing, but all the Bucks hearings this year will take place virtually.
In any case, I have some reservations about school work - it is not the role of the panel to judge it. Most panel members are not qualified to assess Y6 work.
A SATs paper with a meaningful comment such as "GDS standard" could be useful, but I suspect just the raw mark might be given.

at this point there is no y6 report to include.

When is the next school report due?

Today the school had provided SATS predictions

Are they the same as before?

Could you also tell me whether or not the school provided you with a headteacher's review summary sheet last October/November?

[Wellingtonia]

Hi Etienne
Thank you for the reply. We were not provided with the selection review summary sheet. The headteacher had handwritten the scores on a piece of paper she showed us at a meeting. When we asked for the statement, she said she’d provide it if we submitted a review or appeal. Again is this something we can request from school?
The SATS mock scores are
Reading: 115, SPAG/writing 109, Maths 110. There is a slight improvement in Maths from Sept, but a huge academic improvement from the end of year 5 (and back on form).
The next school report is due in June/July so it may be possible to provide that on the day of the panel but unlikely before.
The headteacher argues that the 3 is due to our son having variable effort however he does have a diagnosis of ADD which was only given in November 2022, and variable concentration/attention is the issue the school is referring to.
Thanks

[Etienne]

When we asked for the statement, she said she’d provide it if we submitted a review or appeal. Again is this something we can request from school?

This was a process run by the LA up until the deadline for reviews, and is not available now.
There was a difference between making an online selection review request and submitting an application for a review.
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/advic ... aneous#e32
Our advice - and I appreciate you probably didn't see it at the time - is always to make the online selection review request, because then you get the headteacher's completed form and can decide what, if anything, to do with it. There is no commitment to go ahead with a review.

The headteacher's form provides useful information such as a table summarising attainment in Reading, Writing & Maths from Y2 onwards. It would have supported your case that there were lots of GDSs until Y5, which tends to show that the extenuating circumstances in Y5 had an impact.
You could assemble the same information yourself, in a more longwinded way, by giving the appeal panel a copy of all school reports from Y2-Y5.
Or, bearing in mind that this is factual information that should be in the school record, you could try asking the headteacher if she would be willing to provide you with a summary of attainment (similar to section one of the headteacher's review summary sheet).
If the school refuses, the next step could be to point to data protection law and insist on a copy of the school record.

The next school report is due in June/July so it may be possible to provide that on the day of the panel but unlikely before.

If it's June it might possibly be all right. (It depends to some extent on how many appeals there are.)
You could try asking the Appeals Team to give you a srage 2 hearing appointment as late as possible. I don't know if the current online appeals form asks about your availability. If not you could contact the Team when you get an acknowledgement of your appeal and a reference number.

[Wellingtonia]

Yes - you’re right, we didn’t obtain that information, but we have got all the attainment data in school reports and I’ve summarised in a table/top sheet from year 1 to year 6, it clearly shows the year 5 discrepancy. Would an Appeals panel wish to see all the full copies of these reports or is a summary sufficient?
Again, thank for all your advice Etienne - very much appreciated.

[Etienne]

we have got all the attainment data in school reports and I’ve summarised in a table/top sheet from year 1 to year 6, it clearly shows the year 5 discrepancy. Would an Appeals panel wish to see all the full copies of these reports or is a summary sufficient?

Full reports might be preferable - so that there's no suspicion something is being hidden!
However, you would have to add them to your appeals submission as attachments, and I don't know how lengthy your reports are and whether the total number of pages would be too much for the system.
If attainment in Reading, Writing & Maths has been fitted on to a single page each year, then that page, clearly headed (e.g. "summer term 2022, Y5") would probably be sufficient.
Another possibility is to provide the full report just for Y4 & Y5, as the panel are usually going to be most interested in recent attainment. (I would have said "just Y5", but in your particular case you would need Y4 as well to provide more balance.)

Again, thank for all your advice Etienne - very much appreciated.

You're very welcome. Come back if there are any further questions.

P.S. Don't forget:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... -school#c2