PLEASE HELP - STICKY SITUATION

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soundofmusic
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 9:24 pm

PLEASE HELP - STICKY SITUATION

Post by soundofmusic »

Hi All

I wonder if anyone out there can shed some lights on the dilemma i am having. Situation is my daughter has passed the Bexley's test with 244 points which is 7 points short of making the top 180. We live in Bromley and was told that it will now go on distance as to whether she gets an offer or not for a Bexley grammar school.

When my daughter was sitting the Maths test, one of her friend was crying hysterically and instead of dealing with this in a different way, the examiner asked my daughter to move her table to sit next to her distressed friend to comfort her! My daughter came out of the test quite distressed about this. I contacted Bexley's admission to let them know what had happened cause i do think this has affected my daughter's concentration and was told i could get the HT to review but unlikely to have an allowance for 7 points. I am meeting with the HT tomorrow but am I clutching at a thin straw here??

Please help..
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: PLEASE HELP - STICKY SITUATION

Post by Marylou »

:shock:

That's absolutely appalling! I feel sorry for the poor girl who was upset, but it certainly wasn't your daughter's job to look after her in the middle of the exam! I don't know anything about how the system works in Bexley with reviews etc. but it sounds as though the invigilator dealt with this situation very badly and I'm sure must have broken quite a few rules. Did you report the matter right away, or only after the result came through?

Simply flabbergasted!
Marylou
soundofmusic
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 9:24 pm

Re: PLEASE HELP - STICKY SITUATION

Post by soundofmusic »

Hi

I reported to Bexley admission straight away after the exam but was pretty unhelpful. They told me its not something that is going to be easy to prove that it had affected her concentration!
ch1ll1man
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2010 10:47 am

Re: PLEASE HELP - STICKY SITUATION

Post by ch1ll1man »

Well done for DC getting 244!

Have you checked the walking distance to the nearest grammar using google maps? Then check how far each grammar has gone out in previous years and you may be surprised.

I've heard that the appeals panel can be pretty hard nosed to be honest but you are right not to give up based on the circumstances, I'd be very upset if that happened to my DD. The selection process for Grammar schools definitely favour local children living in the south of the borough but a lot of parents think that's how it should be. We live 0.7 miles away from BGS my DD's preferred school and she scored lower than your DC but as you pointed out is pretty much guaranteed a place.

If it was just the fact that you lived in Bromley and didn't score in the top 180 I would say that's just tough luck as you knew the score about where you live and could have supported the borough over the years by living here. However before you bite my head off I am actually in agreement on this one, they treated her pretty badly in the exam it seems. You could always move to Bexley before Decemeber!!!
Tracy
Posts: 1123
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:28 am
Location: Bexley

Re: PLEASE HELP - STICKY SITUATION

Post by Tracy »

You will have to appeal if your dd does not get offered the school of her choice.
You will then only stand a slim chance of winning if you can provide evidence that this actually happened. If the invigilator has not written this down it's going to be a hard nut to crack.
dutchy005
Posts: 117
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:11 pm

Re: PLEASE HELP - STICKY SITUATION

Post by dutchy005 »

We are in Essex and last year our son underperformed massively on the English paper. We appealed to 2 schools KEGS and CRGS. We had lots of evidence of his ability - NFER cat scores, school support etc and also mitigating circumstances. The thing that seemed to swing it though was that the boy in front was crying. Despite having death certificates, sick notes all sorts of stuff both panels went right in on the disturbance in the exam room.

At the first appeal to KEGS where our DS took exam, the PO put his hands up and said yes it happened just as recounted by our son, there was disturbance on and off for 15 minutes after which crying boy left exam room. Our DS's maths and VR scores were right up there but he was 7 marks off gaining a place. We lost this appeal on a majority decision.

The second appeal to CRGS then seemed really daunting especially as there had not been a successful appeal to this school for over 10 years. THe panel again went straight for the disturbance in the exam room and asked the PO about it: he said it was something of nothing and had been all over in 20 seconds!!!!! Fortunately one of the panel was a retired primary head who was not willing to let this go. She asked to see invigilator's report and was told no because it had names on it. She said that in her experience if a child was going to become upset it was usually a few minutes into the exam and she would then expect the invigilator to try to calm the child before asking them to leave the exam room so she would expect it to last at least 10 minutes or so not a few seconds. Eventually they established that the child had left the room exactly when our DS had said he did. THe PO was then asked how many more marks our DS would have needed to gain a place because the retired primary head thought 4 or 5 marks would be reasonable: the PO said he didn't know. They insisted he find out. We then had to sit in the coffee bar while he phoned the CSSE. We knew from first appeal it was 3.5 marks for this school but phoned CSSE ourselved to check and they told us PO was on line already asking question.

Eventually after two other appeals were heard we were called back in PO said our DS needed 4 marks and that he'd spoken to invigilator from KEGS who had told him he remembered the incident clearly and it was all something of nothing and over in seconds. We didn't argue. We felt the PO had already lost the respect of the panel and that they liked us so we trusted them to be fair.

We won and it was all worth it. So very very good luck hope this little tale helps a little. Feel free to PM me if you need any more info.
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: PLEASE HELP - STICKY SITUATION

Post by Marylou »

Another aspect that has occurred to me - it's difficult enough coping when there is a child crying in the room, but in this case the distressed child was a close friend. This clearly would have contributed to the anxiety felt by soundofmusic's daughter, who was put into an impossible position by the invigilator. Her concern and loyalty for her friend would have conflicted with her need to concentrate on her own test. She did well to score as highly as she did!
Marylou
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