Hello, my daughter scored 116. 114 verbal, maths 115 and non-verbal 121.

Just met with her headteacher, who was very surprised she didn’t pass and is fully supportive of a review. They have ranked my daughter as a 1-1 for achievement and attitude (I think that’s what the headteacher said the 1-1 was for!) and she shared her recent SATs scores, which were all above the 110 level for greater depth.

There are no extenuating circumstances, and the board have made it clear the test issues won’t be considered (although my daughter only scored 114 in normally her strongest area at one of the schools that discovered the issue ‘live’), so we won’t mention that!

So our review will be focussed solely on academic grounds. My question really is what do I write in section 4, the grounds for selection review? At the moment I feel like I will just be repeating the head teacher’s review!

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mad?

Welcome!

I agree with you - it's likely to be repetitive.

You could adapt the letter for Mary, changing it from an appeal to a review.
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appea ... aneous#e11
Use bullet points, and keep it very brief.
What matters is what the headteacher has written, not what you write!

I'm afraid they might turn down your review for this reason - but I understand the problem. If you haven't got any extenuating circumstances, then you haven't got any extenuating circumstances, and you can't make them up because you would need supporting evidence of the impact on the child.

Quote:
The SRP will normally expect there to be strong evidence of both high academic ability AND exceptional reasons for underperformance in the tests

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Etienne

Thank you for the reply, Etienne.

Yes, we understand the issue with having no extenuating circumstances, and that it reduces our chances of success. Obviously our daughter had to deal with the same kind of issues as every other child around the test - falling out with friends, changes to her body, the issue with the answer paper etc, but we felt it’s better to just leave it, rather than make something sound like a bigger issue than it was. A few people have actually advised us that to reference an extenuating circumstance that isn’t deemed significant is more likely to harm the case than help it, so hopefully it is the right decision.

Ultimately she had a bad day and didn’t truly reflect her abilities, which happens, especially aged 10!

One question on Mary’s letter if you don’t mind - the letter references feeling under pressure. Our daughter did feel a bit daunted by the exam hall and was much more nervous than she normally is, but we felt that mentioning nerves/pressure wouldn’t help our review? And that the ability to cope with pressure is actually “part of the test”, for want of a better phrase?

I tend to agree. What the review panel will do is crosscheck whether the headteacher has confirmed any extenuating circumstances (or whether there is evidence from another independent professional).

It's an argument which might possibly go down better if you finish up in front of an appeal panel - something to be raised reluctantly rather than written down:

Quote:
If your extenuating circumstances are not too strong (in the sense that there isn’t any convincing evidence to show that your child was affected) -

….. in this situation the best approach is to appear reluctant to ‘offer excuses’, to let the panel drag the information out of you bit by bit, if the opportunity arises, rather than to build it up as a major issue. Understate the point, or you risk diluting your case as a whole.
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appea ... cation#b10

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Etienne

Hi Etienne,

I just wanted to say thank you again for your help with our selection review. We got the letter today, and the review was successful. This site really helped us a lot, so thank you ever so much.

Wonderful news!

Many congratulations!

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Etienne