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Everything I've read on here suggests I need to prove her academic case
Indeed - I probably wrote much of it!
No one is suggesting you shouldn't make an academic case.
I don't know how strong your academic evidence is ("
I have a headteacher’s letter of support, including some academic evidence"), but you have rather a good argument when pointing out "
she's managed to get through her whole school career to date without a single teacher noticing her difficulties and has managed to get through the 11+ without adjustments and qualify for her 2nd choice school".
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it's not a "positive" document to present to appeal when trying to emphasise that she'll cope in GS.
I understand your concerns, but I hope the panel would know that it's really not their task to determine whether or not a child with learning difficulties will cope at grammar school.
The Appeals Code is very clear about what the appeal panel should be doing:
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3.13 An appeal panel may be asked to consider an appeal where the appellant believes that the child did not perform at their best on the day of the entrance test. In such cases:
a) where a local review process has not been applied, the panel must only uphold the appeal if it is satisfied:
i) that there is evidence to demonstrate that the child is of the required academic standards, for example, school reports giving Year 5/Year 6 SAT results or a letter of support from their current or previous school clearly indicating why the child is considered to be of grammar school ability; and
ii) where applicable, that the appellant’s arguments outweigh the admission authority’s case that admission of additional children would cause prejudice.
Dyslexia is a significant part of your case, because it helps explain underperformance on the day, so clearly you need some evidence for it.
Unfortunately, if you are thought to be picking out just the parts of a report that suit you, the panel
will be suspicious!
Does the report include a free-standing summary that would be suitable from your point of view?
This would be acceptable because it doesn't suggest you're going through the report and cherry picking.
Alternatively, is the headteacher now on side? Could the school confirm the diagnosis and summarise the key points you want to get across, so that you can dispense with the report?
A summary from the school is worth something - a summary from the parent isn't!