also a 5 mark under score, aiming for highworth

[03mum]

Evening my dd received the following scores

Reasoning 117
English 98
Maths 100 = 315

My daughter has been a consistent higher achiever (but yes not amazing) through school and is the top girl in her class. She is a consistent alrounder and active in sports in and out of school and is on 5b and 5c's across the board. She was way off finishing her maths paper which is her strongest subject along with NVR. Her test scores were not entirely a surprise as she has timing issues (dwells too much as she wants perfection!) However she really wants Highworth school which we are in the catchment area for but I am worried about appealing with her test scores. Does anybody have any words of wisdom or any clue of how things may pan out on appeal? I do understand it is a lottery but I don't know how many places may be available on appeal after this 'new' test format. Thank you

[anotherworriedmum]

I would put Highworth on the top of your CAF followed by some High Schools that you are happy with and then appeal. I think I am right that in the last couple of years they have had spaces, so you might be ok with an appeal especially if you have evidence of high academic ability. Have you ploughed your way through all the info on appeals on this site? Its a bit daunting but you won't be doing an appeal until next May/June you have got some time to get familiar with it all. Good luck

[yoyo123]

Have a look at the appeals section of the forum. There is a excellent Q&A section

[twinkles]

As others have said you need to gather lots of evidence of her ability between now and next April/May. Your DD is under on both Maths and English so you need to get evidence that it was a blip on the day and that her current levels are suitable for grammar.

Find out if it went to HT appeal and if so what reason it was turned down at that.

Will your HT support an appeal.

Find out how may appeals there were last year and how many were successful. How many have they taken over PAN in recent years.

I know of a few that appealed to Highworth with similar levels of under scoring in the old test but they weren't successful, unfortunately.

You have nothing to lose by going to appeal and everything to gain.

Do you have a good back up school?

[03mum]

Hi, yes I have looked through the appeals process it looks very daunting! However ht is fully supportive and said yet again she is a grammar girl. She was not tutored BTW.

I dont wish to air my private life or harp on in appeal on the sympathy vote, but she has suffered fhis year on a personal level. She has been witness to seeing her family break up and subsequently splitting up in spring when my husband/my childrens dad move out. This has been a challenging time for all of us and whilst she has still achieved the head said its not as much as would have been expected had it not been for our family circumstances. She has coped really well but I know she has suffered as we all have

I feel this is a very valid factor and her levels can be evidenced by school work. Her reports are fantastic and feature her good character as well as academic and sporting achievements so I am hoping this will all come together to help but we are fully aware we are up against it on this and possibly the odds do not stack in our favour. Fingers crossed. Thanks x

[03mum]

Sorry should add that whilst we are closer to h.w. by a several miles, f.s.f.g. is an option too so will go for appeal there too. But I know there was a good shepway pass score. I was unaware there was even a test they had to sit for it until the other day. I thought it was Kent test only and that private schools were the schools that did entrance tests separately.

[twinkles]

Sorry to hear of your family issues.

I know someone who was on this forum last year whose DD failed and they were appealing to Highworth and Folkestone - they didn't get Highworth but did get Folkestone.

Do you have a good back up comp?

[kal12003]

Hi 03mum

I am also aiming to appeal Highworth for my daughter. Head teacher said she was so close in the Kent test- I have a meeting with the Head tomorrow to get the scores. I am not sure of the success rates for appeals at Highworth but have submitted a freedom of information request to KCC last week to find out how many appeals were heard last year for girls in Ashford & the percentage of those that were successful. I know of a quite a few parents whose daughters were expected to pass the Kent test comfortably but didn't and are appealing- Am not sure how this will impact on appeal chances this year.

[twinkles]

I think there have been over 60 appeals the last two years for Highworth.

[kal12003]

I think there have been over 60 appeals the last two years for Highworth.

That's quite a high number, I'd be inclined to think appeals would have a low success rate with that number? Do you know whether the majority of their 184 places are filled before appeals at all?