11 Plus Exams Forum

We have been informed today that our appeal was unsuccesful. Our daughter scored 117 and 118 and had a 1:1 recommendation and glowing reports and very strong support from her current headteacher, her former headteacher and her current class teacher. Currently working at level 5 in all core subjects, reading age 2.5 years above her age and a 100% score in a recent SATs mock.
We cited three extenuating circumstances in our appeal. One was a home situation which played out over the two weeks of the 11+, the second was an ongoing medical problem, the third serious unhappiness at school. The first, which was most pertinent to the case, was also mentioned by the Headteacher as our extenuating circumstance. To our suprise we were asked very few questions at the appeal about this (e.g. how did it affect our daughter) - even though we mentioned it in some detail upfront. I also told the panel that her class teacher had immediately identified this issue as a reason for our daughter's underperformance.
In our letter of rejection the two other extenuating circumstances were commented on "The panel considered x and y" in some detail, but no mention was made in the letter of the third circumstance at all.
Is there anything we can do now?

Many thanks

I'm so sorry to hear about this - I do know how you feel. Your first step would be to ask for the clerk's notes so that you can read about how the panel made up their mind.

If you are not satisfied that everything was considered you could consider talkking to the Ombudsman to see whether you may have a case for taking it further -

I agree with Guest55.

If you get the clerk's notes (for which there's a fee of £10), look to see whether all three circumstances were mentioned in the chair's summary. (After you've left the room, the chair is likely to have summarised your case.)

Was the school very successful with its "1" recommendations? Did most of these children qualify? If so, it ought to have added some weight to the school's support.

Hi,
We requested the clerk’s notes and the whole process happened very swiftly, we just followed Etienne’s advice as to how to go about it and they arrived within the week.

They were much more detailed than we had expected and give you a clear picture of what was discussed and (more importantly, perhaps, in your case) what wasn’t, so you can see whether you have any grounds for taking things further – we’re still taking advice on this.

My only word of caution: it can be quite distressing if, for example, some of the comments are rather blunt and if you discover that the panel were split as you know how close you came to succeeding with your appeal.

Good luck.

As to the question of the other 1:1 s. This is probably a very important part of our case. In my child's class of 34, 27 children sat the test and only 4 passed, despite 10 getting a 1:1 recommendation. I was asked to comment on this by the chair of the panel who introduced her question by: "I don't want to criticize the headteacher but these figures look odd to me, what do you think?" This was a very difficult question to answer for a lay person, because if I said that the Head teacher had not got it right, I also undermined my own daughter's 1:1. I said that there were many very able children in the class, but that maybe other children had suffered from the very unhappy situation at school. I also said that I believed that this was a new system and maybe the head had had some difficulty in interpreting the numbers. The chair of the panel said that our head was 'very experienced'. So, it leaves me wondering now is what would have been the right answer to that question.
Also in our appeal it came out that there was maladministration with the practice tests, which the LEA man did not mention but came out through the questioning (he said they were looking into it) and there was persistent coughing from one of the invigilators at both tests.
I will ask for a copy of the clerk's minutes. What is so devastating about this is that we had no less than 4 education professionals (Year 5 teacher, former headteacher who taught our child for 3 years, current head teacher and current class teacher) all use the same language of academic excellence. And although we could not pinpoint to one specific thing happening on either day of the tests, we did paint a very clear picture of a child who was troubled at home (eldest brother left for University on October 4th), was in a lot of pain and was troubled at school. Even though one can never be certain, it seemed a very strong case to us.
We will lick our wounds and move on, but for the sake of the system as a whole, and all the parents who come after us, I feel it is important to get to the bottom of this.

I do so empathise with you - we were where you are four years ago. We took it to the ombudsman but it was so long and protracted that our child had taken the 12+ before we got to a stalemate. [Ombudsman unable to get the answer to specific questions]

I hope you can get the answers you need - encourage your child to do well in the KS2 tests ready for the 12+ - many wrongs have been righted through that route.

Dear Bucksparents,

So sorry to hear the news and know exactly how you are feeling. We are in the same boat and 3 weeks on I keep waking up wondering how this could be happening and what went wrong. We too thought we had a watertight case, real mitigating circumstances etc etc. We wondered what it would have taken to convince the panel. We were also asked a question about the school summary sheet which we were unable to answer. Interesting to know if you had the same panel/chair as us? You can PM if you like and we can see. My sincerest sympathies are with you.

Panickingmum

Dearest Bucksparents,

I feel for you.

Last year my DD had x2 118, 1:1, ranked 3rd, fantastic support from school and mitigating cicumstances.
But sadly we failed.

We had a re-mark and the clerks notes.

Yesterday, she took her 12 plus but she is so happy and progressing well in a good secondary that she doesn't want to move if she passes!

All the best to you and you too dear PANICKINGMUM.

Love Sarah x

We have sent a letter of complaint to the Appeals team. I would really appreciate one of the forum moderators' view on our situation. As we are still awaiting a reply from the Appeals team, I would prefer to send a PM.

Is that all right? And if so, who should I send it to?

Many thanks,

Bucksparents

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