Please help!! Should i appeal??

[swanscombemum38]

Only a few days left to decide and just wanted to get ppls opinions on wether i should appeal for my ds to get into grammer? He has always done pretty well in maths but not fantastic it was recommended he do the 11+ as he had a great chance, he ended up getting 140 in NVR 132 in VR but only 104 in Maths so over all 376 but obviously no pass as need 119 or more in each
I am being told dont bother appealing as you have no chance but then being told appeal hes got a good chance with such high vr/nvr scores?!!? brain is frazzled. I know i have nothing to lose by appealing but do not want my ds being let down again as he was so sad he did not pass even tho he passed overall
Any advice would be so much appreciated.

[Etienne]

Welcome!

It all depends what sort of case you can put forward.
See:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a36" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jamesberks]

On the practical side read all of the advice on this forum. You have until March! If you appeal you might win if you don't you won't.

On the emotional side ... just going through the same myself although we're nearer the pass mark. There is no way I could not appeal because of the "what if ..." My approach to avoiding more stress for him is that now that we've got the post mortem out of the way to drop the subject so he can carry on with life. (Shame I can't!!!) He is aware that I'm going to appeal but I've talked down any possibility of success. Maybe in June he'll have a nice surprise but if not the subject was already dead. It's easier to keep quiet about an appeal than a test due to the rather necessary requirement for the child to sit the test!

I've also started to find positive things to say about choice #2 and in the process find myself happier about it. I know he'll do really well wherever he goes. Given that 90% of a child's success is based on the support they get from the home* the same must apply to all the children this site is about who don't get their first choice but evidently have very supportive parents.

*How on earth did anyone measure that?!

... of course my approach isn't so good if your 2nd choice happens to be really dire!

[swanscombemum38]

Hi,
I know the answers I am probably going to get are not great but am I too late to appeal??
I have recently found out the school I was going to appeal for (having child miss out on maths by 17 points but having high scores in vr & nvr and being told sats scores of level 5 maths and level 6 literacy) is undersubscribed and also being informed they have 30 places to fill! I know I am not to late by law as admission team have told me I can still appeal but just scared of the stress this will bring and would like opinions on if 1. Already to far off the mark? and 2. Lateness of appeal??
If anyone can help a stressed mum it would be much appreciated

[Etienne]

am I too late to appeal??

No, you can appeal late.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Already to far off the mark?

That could make it harder to win, but (to repeat what we've said before) it all depends what sort of case you can put forward.
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... cation#b11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[swanscombemum38]

Thank you. This is much appreciated. I thought I had posted thank you responses to yourself and Jamesberks before but cannot see them?! But thanks again to you both for taking the time to respond to me.
I will be putting my firm in tomorrow and hope, all you can do is try as a parent to do the best you can for your children and even if we do not get approved, I know my child will do well whatever

[U400JB9]

You could allay do what we did......we didn't tell her we were appealing to save her the disappointment if we were unsuccessful.

[Y]

It's happened before in my area that when a school has been undersubscribed, it runs its own set of entry tests during the summer. If you appeal unsuccessfully, this might be a route to consider?

[CaroPiano]

Hello Swanscombemum38. We have spent the last 6 months in this process and would urge you to go for appeal. As a parent you need to know further down the line that you did everything possible. We didn't tell our daughter that we were going to appeal but 'bigged up' the upper school she was offered and worked behind the scenes. As we are in Bucks we have the fun now of being qualified for grammar school (on academic evidence despite missing 11+ by a full 10 marks) but needing to appeal for an actual place as the GS places have all gone ......

It is stressful, it is hard (read everything, talk to everyone, go in with a script so you have a list of the essential points you want the panel to hear from you) and go for it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Good luck!

BTW, when we told our daughter that we had gone through appeal and she was now qualified for GS she asked "How did you know I was just pretending to be happy about the other school".......our children are smart and protect us.

[swanscombemum38]

Hi, thank you all for the the advice. Very very nervous about the whole thing but still feel we are doing the right thing by our child. His teachers letter we have put forward as evidence state he is at 5a and 5c so hoping this will show he is academically suitable but who knows. We will not be telling him we are appealing as do not want to knock his confidence if unsuccessful. Congrats to you cara I hope we will have the same outcome as you
Is a letter from teacher and examples of work enough to show panel or should we have more info? We do have school reports for year 2 & 5 and certificate of distinction in writing for having a 50 word poem published in year 3.
Any more advice would be much appreciated.