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Headmaster's Assessment

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:55 pm
by Longmead
My son failed the Kent Test by 1 mark. The Headmaster sent in an appeal demonstrating his high IQ and SATS scores but the panel deemed that the Maths work submitted "did not support a grammar place". I have since discovered that because my son had a new Maths teacher who joined in September who didn't know any of the children or their capabilities, the work she did with them early in the term was not that challenging. I originally e mailed the school to ask why he had moved Maths classes when his results were higher than those children who had stayed in the top set, and have had no justifiable response from the school. One other boy who remained in the top Maths set also had a Headmaster's assessment and he got through.

Do I have any redress regarding a Headmaster's assessment or do I have to wait for a parental appeal in March 09 please?

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:44 pm
by Etienne
Your county council is responsible for the headteacher assessment, and I'm pretty sure their response would be "If you have any concerns, they can be addressed at a formal appeal".

Keep your email correspondence with the school, as you may wish to submit it as evidence. It might be worth pursuing the correspondence (e.g. a stronger letter to the headteacher, or a complaint to the chair of governors) to add to the evidence.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:50 pm
by reddebs
As the Headteachers assessment is internal you will be abe to bring his school work into an appeal case. It may be worth getting examples of the type of maths he was doing before the change of teachers, along with any predicted levels. As an x chair of governors I would suggest a formal letter to the headteacher detailing your concerns and requesting a response in writing which can also be tabled if required. Should a response not be forthcoming or not to your satisfation then escalate to the governors.
What schools in Kent are you looking at? may be worth contacting to see if they took any children under Appeal last year as this will help you guage your chances.
Hope thi helps
reddebs