Hello, I have read the appeal Q& A in the forum. I am in the process of writing the appeal letter, it would be appreciated if I can have some advice.

I appeal the non qualification in a Gloucester gs.
My daughter’s school has been put under special measurements for inadequate teaching when she was year 2. Her KS1 SATs results were all below expectations. Is it worth to mentioned on the letter?

Thanks

Welcome to Appeals!

I think the panel will be much more interested in KS2.

If there was a noticeable jump in achievement after Y2, you could explain that the school had previously been in special measures. Don't dwell on it, though - just a sentence.

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Etienne

Etienne, thank you very much for your response, it is much appreciated.
I am struggling to put evidences to approve academic abilities. The Y5 report was noted as for March. She was at expected levels for all. The report was very limited with a few paragraphs. My daughter is late summer born child, due to the quality and inconsistent teaching in her class on y1 and y2, she was really started engaging with learning from y4. Our school doesn’t do CATs, they did a mock SATs test on the end of last year, it’s the only scores I have for her. She was greater in depth in English and maths. Will the jump also shows the academic abilities?

The school we are appealing that was not her first choice on the application form, her first choice was her sibling’s school. Do we need to justify for it? This is the only school that we are appealing for her.

I'm not an expert (never even been through the appeals process) but my DD reported that she'd messed up the test back in October, so I spent some time collating evidence. I was wondering about using the reading and spelling ages that were included in the school reports. I don't know whether other schools do this? It didn't go unnoticed that on one report, although she was recorded as being "on track" for reading and English, her reading age was shown as 15, and spelling age as 13 when she was 8. So I was wondering about using that as evidence of caution from the school for over-assessing ability if that makes any sense! It may be similar for you? Does the school stream for maths or give extension work to the more academic children? As you may be able to tell, I was trying to find anything that may be helpful! Although my DD's school does CAT tests, I was advised that they weren't considered top quality evidence as it's a GL test and Glos moved away from that test because it was too easy to tutor for, (not sure how true that is), so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
Was there a reason for the poorer performance than expected? Family stresses etc? I am wondering if there will be a larger number of appeals this year due to parental redundancy etc.
I don't think the late birthday would help, as the standardisation is supposed to take this into account.
As I say though, I'm not an expert in the slightest! Good luck.

You may have seen that we've put together a list here:
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appea ... cation#b11
Not everything listed may be possible during coronavirus, but the panel will still need to be persuaded about academic ability.

Very good, but I think the panel would want to see a lot more evidence.
Is the school willing to provide a letter of support?
It depends what they say.
See: https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appea ... cation#b48

Not in the appeal letter (unless you want to), but it would be worth mentioning "This is the only school we are appealing for."

You might be asked about your first preference if there are written questions and answers, or a hearing by video conference - it depends how your appeals are being organised during coronavirus.

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Etienne

We don’t have a lot information on the school report. Regrettably, we should have removed her from that school years ago. I have asked the head for support letter. Not sure how supportive she will be.

Not sure how to proceed with the head teacher support letter. If I ask the head to provide information on the school’s poor quality of teaching，the issues on her class, I don’t think it will go down well. She doesn’t seem to be interested in supporting the appeal at all.
Will it still be a chance on success without the head’s support.

Thanks

Nichrys

Background information sent

the information you need the headmistress to include is not related to poor teaching / issues in class.

The key from the headmistress is evidence of academic ability and attainment and what they would have expected from her in the exam https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appea ... cation#b48

Thanks for the advice hermanmunster, it’s much appreciated!

My daughter’s y6 class teacher came back with a very positive way. She will support my daughter’s appeal in any way she can. Her support letter will include my daughter’s academic ability and attainment. Just wonder if it is still necessary for the head teacher’s letter?