appeal presentaion

[confused mum bucks]

A Happy New Year to you all and especially to those facing appeals this month .
Having managed to pretty much block the appeal from my mind over the Christmas period (except for those 1am ponderings!) I am now feeling increasingly anxious as the dreaded day looms (11th Jan), I have a few questions buzzing round my over active brain so am turning to my sanity savers.
I have recieved all the paperwork, school ranked my son as 6th out of 16 ranked, 4 above him passed ( although the 5th above passed the Slough 11+ is that worth mentioning?) and one a couple below him passed.
Our academic case I hope will be fairly straight forward- a double 119, level 3 KS1 sats, predictied level 5's at KS2, a 2;2 ranking from head and 'strongly supportive statment from head that GS would benefit our son.
All we included was last years report which backs up the level 5 predictions ans emphasis his 100% effort and extra curricular activities representing school in many sports & piano report. I will take his most recent maths English and science books, his class teacher kindly photocopied a number of pieces of my son's best work at the end of term (without me asking ) but I know that original books are better so will just flag those peices of work within the books.

What I am unsure about is how much to try and put over a picture of our sons personality, i.e that he is a very competitive child who thrives on challenge, enjoys Sat's week(!) and participates fully in all aspects of school life (he has just been selected to represent the county in an athletics competiition which will entail several weekend commitments - is that worth mentioning?)
So whilst I think it will be fairly clear that he has the academic ability for GS what I don't know is how strongly we need to prove so why didn't he pass then, he suffered severe insomnia night before ( but it was more Christmas eve type excitment than worry!) and we have had some serious illness within the family,althoughI don't have evidence that thsi has affected his school work, it has certainly been the cause of upset.

sorry what a long rambling mail! I just really want to know what kind of presentation will be best, I know I mustn't get too emotional but surely I do need to paint some kind of picture of my child as an individual?
Any advise gratefully recieved!
confused mumbucks

[Guest55]

Keep it simple - it's the academic you have to prove. The extra curricular is interesting but not compelling evidence for a GS. The fact that children below him passed is also encouraging.

You are close with 2 x 119 - the KS1 level 3s are good - only 25% of Bucks children get 3 level 5s at KS2, so those redictions are also encouraging.

Hopefully Etienne will read your query - just try to relax - practice what you are going to say - write it down so you focus on the key issues.

GOOD LUCK!!

[Etienne]

Dear confused mum

I agree with Guest55's comments.

the 5th above passed the Slough 11+ - is that worth mentioning?

It won't do any harm to mention it, but the official view would be that the two tests are different and cannot be directly compared.

he has just been selected to represent the county in an athletics competiition which will entail several weekend commitments - is that worth mentioning?

No!
(The panel might ask you about his extra-curricular activities, in which case tell them. However, it will have no influence on the decision.)

he suffered severe insomnia night before ( but it was more Christmas eve type excitment than worry!) and we have had some serious illness within the family,althoughI don't have evidence that thsi has affected his school work, it has certainly been the cause of upset.

Well worth a mention, but don't over-emphasise. You have no proof that your son was affected, but with 2 x 119 I don't think this will matter.

surely I do need to paint some kind of picture of my child as an individual?

No! Focus on the criteria: Academic Evidence and Extenuating Circumstances. In your case it's the academic evidence that really matters.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes

[confused mum bucks]

Many thanks for your very sensible and as ever level headed advice will try and keep myself as non emotional as possible!

[Chilternz]

Hi,

Not wanting to be accused of nit picking but slightly confused by the comment by Guest 55 that "The fact that children below him passed is also encouraging".

Either this might indicate that the head's ranking was not accurate and / or the child did not perform as expected on the day, but could somebody please help out in the explanation on why this is 'encouraging' ??

Just to also compliment the organizers /admin and contributors to this site - a real wealth of extremely useful information.

Kind regards,
C

[Nervous Mother]

My daughter had 9 children pass below her as well as 7 children above her, all of which were ranked almost perfectly by the head. I have also read this is a good thing, but have no idea how to explain it to the appeal board. Any suggestions?

If anyone has seen the appeal board yet, please let us know what you thought.

Thank you to everyone who uses this site.

Nervous Mother

[Etienne]

Rest assured that you will not be expected to explain the order of suitability to the panel. Any questions about this are likely to be directed at the LA representative. (Of course, you can join in the discussion if you wish).

My daughter had 9 children pass below her as well as 7 children above her, all of which were ranked almost perfectly by the head.

Depending on how it fits with the rest of the evidence, I think a panel's reaction to the above could well be "This head is very accurate overall, so we can trust his/her judgement. He/she believes the child should have qualified, and in this instance the result is most likely an anomaly."

Sometimes the head's rankings are all over the place (it can't be easy to draw up such a list), but not to worry, there is a simpler test that can be applied. How many of the "1" recommendations really did score 131+? How many of the "2" recommendations really did score 121-130? If the answer is most of them, then the panel will find the head credible, and are more likely to trust a "2" given to your child.

Conversely, if most of the head's "1s" turn out to be "2s", and most of the "2s" turn out to be "3s", then the head is inclined to be over-optimistic, and the panel are less likely to trust a "2" recommendation .........

Regards