Hello all
Our result came on Friday and my sons score was 119.75. So frustratingly close.
So - I’m starting to look into an appeal. The trouble is that my son is at a prep school so the normal SAT scores etc are not available. He’s consistently above average and particularly strong in maths, science and English but I imagine this is fairly meaningless in a small year group. The head was a little cowardly (IMHO) and was not to be seen at school on Friday evening so I didn’t have chance to talk to him, however I am hopeful of his support.
I’ve got a couple of questions:

Timings- from what I can see, if we go to appeal, when do you find out if you have been successful and is there an opportunity to submit an application that can be considered for national offer day in March? If not, is the whole process a bit of a waste of time? As presumably most places will have been offered? My saving grace is that DS1 is already at grammar so sibling rule would apply.

Extenuating circumstances- unfortunately have a chronic illness and on the weeek of the 11+ was bed bound, had hospital treatment and unable to take him in for his test I know that this would have upset and worries him and as he can be distracted I know that this didn’t help him on testing day but I don’t want any appeal to be seen as clutching at the proverbial straw..
Thanks so much in advance for your help. The Q&a and numerous threads have been really excellent!

Welcome!

Appeals start in the summer term. When they finish depends ......

See A13 in the Bucks sticky:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=53659&p=656877#p656877

Only if you ask for a review.

Not necessarily. Even if the school is full, you put forward your reasons for wanting a place and the panel will consider whether they outweigh the prejudice to the school of going over the published admission number. The sibling rule connection would obviously be one of your reasons and should be of some help.

It's worth mentioning. With 119.75 I wouldn't have thought you need too much in the way of extenuating circumstances.

_________________
Etienne

Dear Etienne
My husband submitted the paperwork for the appeal this afternoon and sent off to Bucks. I've just reviewed the letter and although very complimentary about DS, it talks about his sports, used fairly nutra language 'considered to be one of our more able pupils'and maturity and citizenship skills. I'm now panicking that this may affect our chance as there is not enough hard evidence of academic ability. I did include the last three years of reports, where it shows that he is above average in all subjects. The data that the head included was as follows:
Headteacher recommendation was 2,1
They supplied data on GL assessments that had been done

Maths in June 2018 111, June 2017 118
English June 2018 128, June 2017, 119
Non VR June 2018 118

I have no context for these scores though. Please help with any thoughts you have. I wish my husband hadn't sent the paper work and am almost on the verge of calling the admissions team in the morning to ask them to rip up the appeal paperwork!!

Do you have a copy of the completed form?

If you have a copy it could be sent to the confidential box?

viewtopic.php?t=9907

I sent the confidential docs through - thanks so much

Thank you for the additional information.

Is there any evidence to demonstrate to the panel that the curriculum is ‘a year above’?

The Maths certificate is worth a brief mention – I assume you're referring to a certificate in the challenge, which is school awarded, and not to a medal in the follow-on round?

Predictions have been given for KS2 tests, so does this mean that the school enters pupils for them? It is usual for panels to be given KS2 results for each school in their pack.

The problem I can see is that the KS2 predictions are unlikely to be viewed as realistic by the panel in the light of all the EXS levels in Y4-Y5. The gap in data for Year 3 also does not help the panel to see the KS2 trajectory.

The GL assessments are also lower than I would like to see.

Sorry that, at the moment, we can't be more encouraging.

Did you ask the Head how many of the 2:1s at the school qualified?

Yes - I completely agree with your comments on the levels. The school tell me that their children are a year ahead, but this is not in the letter. Frustratingly, they also mentioned that they had seen rapid progress academically since Easter last year, which I think is definitely relevant, but failed to mention in the heads letter of support.

we have submitted the appeal now, but I am wondering if it is worth asking for an additional letter pointing this out along with KS2 data (if i can get this from his old lower school). Let me know your thoughts.

Truly appreciate the time that you have given to this. Thank you!

I think proving the curriculum is a year ahead would be difficult and might raise more questions about the individual component scores. There's nothing I could see about this on the school website about this claim.

The GL assessments back up the data that is there so I don't think further information would help.

I think I would have been tempted to wait for an appeal as the IAP can consider a wider range of material. However that risks schools being full and I guess you are right at the edge of allocation distances already?

Name a GS as first preference but do have a good back-up plan. Sorry I can't give you more hope

Dear Etienne -
Your guidance and optimism for the SR was spot on. The guidance from the panel came back that 'the panel could not wholly agree with the expected performance levels set out by the headteacher , or that the predicted outcomes could be achieved'. They disregarded our extenuating circumstance as the panel notes that 'extenuating circumstances were not mentioned by headteacher' and they also commented that the 'GL data in line with STTS' We are appealing for the place as there is a mistake in the panel notes and mistakes in the review of the evidence. We've also been given some further context from the school around the GL data from Summer 2018, which I think could show that the numbers were taken out of context, but I wanted to get your advise on this. Below is the data that the school provided from GL Tests in Summer 2018.

In Non VR (Which is the portion of the 11+ my son had a terrible blip on scoring 103) his score was 118. This placed him in the 89th percentile
In English, his SAS mark was 128, which placed him in the 9th stanine and the 97th percentile
In Maths, his SAS mark was 111 scoring, in the 77th percentile.
The school provided the stanine data and the percentiles when they looked back on his scores.

Based on these results, this would give him an overall percentile score of 87% and would place him in the top 15% of ability. Therefore, proving that he is well in the top 30% of ability and should have qualified for a grammar school place.

The GL website says that their SAS score is statistically robust and that the PT Series was standardised against a UK sample of over 100,000 pupils, with benchmarks verified each year based on analysis from half a million pupils. Given that for the 11+ mark of 121+ = the top 30%, it would appear that the results from the June 2018 tests are not comparable and that there is some difference in the scoring and levels applied. If this is the case though, presumably, we have an additional angle to show that the selection review was not fair as they were not comparing 'apples to apples'.

I'd be really thankful for any advice on this. The school he has been allocated is the worst school in the area, just out of special measures and miles away. We are desperate for him to join his brother at grammar. Luckily, the school are very supportive and have recommended him (again) highly, confirming he is working on year 8 algebra competently and has a reading age of 14 years and 6 months. Sorry for my garbled and now lengthy message! Many thanks in advance for your considered opinion.